Kingdom Hearts: Link to Life
by No Limit 5
Summary: IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE!
1. Prologue: Dive into the Soul

A/N: Welcome, old and new readers! This is a redo of my incredibly successful (yet not satisfying for me) story, _Kingdom Hearts III: Link to Life_! But, this time, there's no "III" as I feel that this story is more like…a spin-off story from the games than an actual sequel. With that said, enjoy this prologue!

_**Prologue: Dive into the Soul**_

_Heart._

_Body._

_Soul._

_Three different factors._

_Three different definitions._

_Three different abilities._

_All significant._

_This is what a young fourteen-year old girl is about to learn. And through her journey, she shall discover new allies. New friends. New enemies. New lands. And, most importantly, discover who she will become._

_Perhaps you'll like to hear the tale?_

_Well now, it begins 24 years after another story has ended…_

Rika slowly opened her eyes, seeing bubbles as she sunk down from the surface of an ocean. She took a breath; surprising Rika that air filled her lungs. She couldn't be underwater. Almost as if she was sinking into empty space. This couldn't be real. Was it a dream? This didn't happen to normal people. Then again, Rika Itonami wasn't an entirely normal girl. Deep in her thoughts, Rika didn't realize that she had finally reached her destination; falling with "THUD!" on her back, I might add. "Note to self: When falling/floating down in some mysterious place, don't think about stupid stuff," she mumbled, standing up upon nothing.

Rika was surrounded by nothing and yet, felt like she was right at home. She took a step forward, when hundreds of eagles emerged from where she stood and flew away into the nothingness. With the eagles gone, Rika could see an image on the ground she stood on, which greatly resembled a round stained-glass window. Tilting her head, Rika tried to examine the image. It was of a familiar teenager with brown spiky hair, holding a key-like weapon. Next to him were smaller pictures of a boy with white hair, a girl with red hair, a duck and a dog.

"Dad?" Rika whispered, gazing at the younger versions of her family, but most of all at the image of her father. "Man, did he look like a dork." That must have been what he looked like at her age. She inspected herself. "Then again, his outfit's better than mine." Her clothes were much different than what her father used to wear. While he wore baggy red pants, oversized shoes, a shirt and a jacket; she wore blue jeans, black normal-size shoes and a blue t-shirt with a hood. Rika resembled her mother greatly, but had her father's eyes. And her hair was auburn, a mixture of her mother and father's hair, and was tied into a ponytail, but left a few bangs dangle over her eyes.

Rika heard a voice…one she couldn't identify, yet was again oddly friendly. Like an old friend.

_Your journey will begin soon. But it is a difficult one. You must choose your form, granting you strength._

Rika looked behind herself and saw three weapons seated on pedestals each: a sword, a shield and a wand. Each bore a gray insignia of a silhouetted rabbit. She wasn't too sure what this was about, but Rika trust the voice wholeheartedly. Rika walked over and picked up the sword.

_The path of the warrior. Strong and courageous. But be careful, for power can easily overtake someone with a weak heart. Do you choose this path?_

Rika hesitated. She wasn't exactly sure if she was strong enough to wield it. Rika never had enough self-esteem to believe in herself to accomplish something, but she grew firm; knowing that she'll be able to handle such a great power as long as she never gave up. "Yeah, I'll choose this path." The sword vanished from her hands, startling her a bit.

_Your path is set. Now, what will you give in exchange?_

"Figures. Can't get something without giving something up," Rika sighed. She then picked up the wand.

_The path of mage. Powerful and fantastic. But be warned, it is a mysterious path and sometimes treacherous. Do you give up this power?_

Magic. Rika indeed knew magic. Was she good at it? Hell no. She turned toward the shield and touched it gently.

_The path of the guardian, the strength to defend all you hold dear. But also blinding, this strength can repel those close to you. Do you give up this power?_

Rika nodded. "Yes." With that, the shield disappeared from her hands as well. This defense may have granted to protect, but to lose what was dear to her? She couldn't take it. Rika was, hopefully, ready for what lied ahead… But, what _did_ lie ahead?

The voice spoke again.

_There will be times when you must fight, but don't be afraid…_

Rika yelped when she saw a shadowy being materialized before her, threateningly advancing on her. She instinctively prepared to fight, the sword appeared into her hands. She swung the blade through the creature's center, and it dissipated into the shadows. Sighing, Rika's eyes happened on a mysterious door that wasn't there before. She walked up and was about to open it when she heard the voice again.

_This door is the first of many you must go through. Are you ready for what lies beyond?_

"I came this far." Rika took a deep breath, bravely nodded yes and opened the door. She stepped through and entered a place similar to the last, but the images on the ground were different. There were three emblems: One, a black heart with an "X" in it. The other, an upside-down white heart topped with a cross shape. And finally…the last image was a cross between the two. The top being the heart with the "X". And the bottom being a white cross.

Suddenly, Rika felt a tremor. She closed her eyes. "Don't turn around…" Rika shuddered, unable to resist the temptation and turned. She looked up and saw two large figures appear. One was shadowy, with bright yellow eyes and a heart-shaped hole in its middle. The other was dressed in a baggy white outfit with a blue scarf flowing through an imaginary wind. She knew immediately that those two beings were a Heartless and a Nobody. Specifically, a Darkside Heartless and a Twilight Torn Nobody.

Rika tightened held her ground around the sword's hilt and readied herself to fight the two, when the white creature seemed to go flat; as though all it was the baggy outfit with nothing inside. The white material wrapped around the shadowy creature, and the two seemed to merge together. Now, instead of the two large creatures, one gigantic creature stood in front of Rika.

It resembled a dinosaur; a fukuiraptor to be exact. However, it was completely white with shadowy stripes all over its body. Its two ghastly yellow eyes glared at her. "You've got to be kidding me…" Without a second though, Rika lunged at the creature and swung her blade.

The creature was quick though, easily dodging the slash by leaning backwards before charging its head foreword to swallow Rika in one bite. But she quickly held her sword vertically and caught the beast in-between its jaws. Rika had to quickly think up a new idea, but her eyes shot open when she saw a white blast of energy was coming out of the monster's mouth. "Oh, crap." Immediately, Rika pulled her and the sword free and evaded the blast without a moment to lose. But its foot came down to pin her to the ground. The beast attempted to blast her away with its blast from earlier.

Rika had to think. What do you do when you're pinned to the ground and are about to be blasted with energy… Energy? "That's it." She grunted and threw her sword into the beast's mouth, where the sphere of energy was forming. A powerful explosion blew its head clean off, and Rika was free from its grasp. The monster's body came crashing down…right toward for her! If it was going down, it was going to take Rika with it.

Rika swiftly jumped out of the way just in time, only to suddenly find she was sinking in a pool of darkness. She struggled, but it was no use. She started to panic until she heard the voice again.

_The darkness may seem overwhelming at times, but don't be afraid…_

_Darkness is nothing more than the absence of light. Light, which you possess…_

_But too much Light can be dangerous too…_

_Your journey begins soon, Rika. It will seem long, yet time will pass swiftly. It will seem hard, but you will make it through with ease._

_Rika…_

All Rika could see now was darkness, and all she could hear was the voice.

_Remember Rika:_

_You are the one._

_The one who will create the link…_

…_the link to all._

_**Kingdom Hearts: Link to Life**_


	2. History Repeats Itself

A/N: Sorry about deleting chapter 1 before, folks. I had to change my Looney Tunes part entirely to be more original from what someone else had written. But I personally think this one is better… Okay, I lied. The original was better, but this one is more original! Wow, is that topsy turvy or what?

_**Chapter 1: History Repeats Itself**_

Rika groaned, waking up to the salty sea air on the beach. She opened her eyes into the blaring sun, and immediately shut them again. "I don't see why Dad thinks this is fun," she garbled. Rika opened her eyes slightly and sat up, taking in the sight of the beach where she now napped. She was told her father had used to fall asleep here when he was younger, as well. Rika just supposed she inherited her father's interest of napping on the beach. Napping. That sounded good, despite the fact she'd already slept a good while. She stretched a bit and lay back down on the sand and started drifting back to sleep. But her rest was interrupted by a sudden noise.

"Rika!" Rika irritably opened her left eye and saw a boy standing over her. "Sleeping again, huh?" he asked, shaking his head. "Jeez, don't you get enough sleep at night? Or are you just lazy?"

"I say I'm just lazy," Rika shrugged. She looked up to her life-long friend. Kuro, the son of her father's friend Riku, was 15, and looked almost exactly like his father did at that age. The only real difference was his hair, which was a dark black instead of silver. He simply wore a red muscle shirt, a pair of white cargo pants, white sneakers, and a black cap with an orange, fancy "N" insignia.

"What were you dreaming about?" Kuro asked curiously, sitting down on the sand next to Rika.

"Oh, nothing big," Rika shrugged, turning her attention away from Kuro to the calming ocean. "Just the same dream my dad had before he got his Keyblade." Kuro's eyebrows popped straight up. "Yeah, nothing important."

"I think you should tell your dad," he suggested.

"And I think you should tell _your_ dad about those magazines in your closet," Rika smirked.

"You swore you'll never speak of those ever again…" Kuro whispered in a dead-serious tone. "But, seriously, you really should."

"Please, Kuro," she rolled her eyes. "Me? A Keyblade wielder? I highly doubt that'll _ever_ happen."

"Oh, I don't know…" Kuro shrugged, and started ticking off his fingers. "You're the daughter of a Keyblader, you traveled to several different worlds, you dress like you're ready to leave at a moment's notice, you're pretty-"

"Repeat that last one?"

"You're dressed like you're ready to leave at a moment's notice?"

Rika stared at him with a suspicious eyebrow. "Yeah…well, I still don't think it'll happen."

"Hey, fate and destiny works in mysterious ways," Kuro argued.

"If that's the case, YOU'LL be turning to the dark side," she laughed, but stopped when a water balloon exploded on the side of her face. Rika jerked her head to see Kuro bouncing a blue water balloon up and down in his left hand.

"I'm so evil…" he smirked.

"You're so boned."

Kuro gasped as Rika pulled out a massive red water cannon from her side with a nasty grin. "Oh, crap…" Kuro sprinted for his life as the deranged 14-year-old hounded him.

"Say 'ello to my little friend!" Rika cackled manically, blasting bullets of H2O after her friend.

_**LTL-LTL-LTL**_

Meanwhile, somewhere in another world far, far away in the (alternate) universe, there was a movie studio lot with all sorts of amazing films being shot. The most interesting feature of this movie lot was a tall water tower with a gold and blue shield with the letters "WB" on it at the very top. This was Warner Bros. Studios, merely a small part of this fantastic world known as Looney Tune Land. Within one of its buildings was a set with a painted background of a forest with some actual trees with a few signs on them that read, "DUCK SEASON". But then a new sign was thrown over it that said, "RABBIT SEASON". The person throwing on this sign was actually a duck – an anthropomorphic duck to be exact. He had black feathers, long orange legs with webbed feet and bill, and a while collar around his neck. He was popularly (snort) known as Daffy Duck.

Daffy had a few nails in his bill as he hammered them into the sign he put up to make sure it wouldn't fall down. He turned to you, the reader, for a moment. "I am a duck. I have to be sure to preserve our species existence-es," Daffy said with a lisp as he tried to make an "S" sound. Suddenly, he found a shotgun pointed in-between his eyes. "Quite violent, isn't it?" he gulped.

The man hold the shotgun was a short man with a face that looked like a toddler with a large nose and bald head. He wore a cliché brown hunting jacket, pants, boots, and a silly-looking hat. This man was Elmer Fudd, a hunter of cute, little creatures (despite being a vegetarian). "Say your pwayers, duck!" Elmer said in an absolutely non-threatening voice. "It's duck season!"

Daffy pushed the shotgun's barrel away. "Rabbit season!"

Elmer directed it back. "Duck season!"

Daffy pushed it away again. "Rabbit season!"

"Duck season!"

"Duck season!"

"…" Elmer pulled out a manuscript from behind his back. "Wait a minute…"

"See, Daffy? We told you this wouldn't work!" a duck like Daffy with yellowish orange feathers, an orange beak with orange legs and webbed feet, and blond hair wearing a blue dress said off the set. Her name was Melissa, Daffy's sweetheart. "We can't possibly do this scene without Bugs in it!"

"What are you talkin', darling?" Daffy sneered. "We don't need that stinkin'-"

_BOOM!_

Elmer decided to just pull the trigger and shoot whoever he was currently pointing at; which was Daffy, causing his bill to spin around backwards. Daffy's eyes were half-open as he pulled his bill back and reset it. "That…was cut," he whispered harshly to Elmer.

"Perhaps we should just put the cartoons on hiatus until Bugs returns," Melissa suggested, pulling Daffy away from Elmer before he did something he would regret.

"Bah! Why does that stupid bunny always steal the spotlight from me?" Daffy sulked, placing his left hand over his face and let it slide down, causing his bill to flip up and down like a diving board. "That stupid, no-good, talent-less hack, bunny with buckteeth, and-"

"How about we break for fifteen minutes?" she rolled her eyes, leading her boyfriend up to his dressing room – a tiny, run-down looking trailer with concrete blocks for wheels, grime leaking from the sides, and a television antenna on top that looked ready to break any second. Daffy continued sulking as he walked inside. "Your time will come, Daffy," Melissa smiled sweetly, kissing his cheek. "It will."

Daffy sighed, slumping into his hard metal seat next to a broken mirror as Melissa walked out. "Your mail, Duck!" a voice shouted from outside his trailer as a hand came inside and dropped large bag on to the door, and disappeared.

"Ah! I know my trusty, loyal fans won't disappoint me!" Daffy grinned, opening his mail bag and pulled out a few letters. He began walking around his dressing room as he looked through his mail, tossing each away as he read the return addresses. "Junk, junk, bill, bill, jury duty, junk, bill, bill, junk, you may have already won forty-two million Iron Man action figures, junk, junk, bill, junk, bill, we'll break your legs if you don't pay off your loan… Huh? What's this?" He held up a blue letter, and examined the back to see a seal in the shape of a rabbit's head with ears.

"Rabbit boy's seal, eh?" Daffy mumbled, ripping open the envelope by the side and pulled out a letter. His eyes dotted left and right, making typewriter sounds as he read. He shrugged nonchalantly, and tossed it aside with the others. The lone piece of paper slowly drifted downward. But before it touched the ground, Daffy's arm stretched back to catch it. The rest of his body followed as he did a double take. His eyes darted back and forth, over and over again to make sure they weren't fooling him. Sweat poured down Daffy's brows, and a few strands of feathers started popping out the top of his head. Daffy's head looked straight up to you, the reader, with massive eyes but tiny pupils.

"_Mother._"

_**LTL-LTL-LTL**_

"PORKY! PORKY!!" Daffy screamed for dear life, running across the Warner Bros. studio lot as he weaved, dodged, and avoided traffic and people like a professional football player. He stopped for a second to look for the person he was seeking. Daffy finally spotted that person resting under a palm tree prop.

"PORKY!!" Daffy darted toward him, when suddenly a car he didn't catch suddenly ran him over by the side. The duck was flattened like a pancake with his tongue stinking out. His right hand lifted itself, grabbed his head, pulled him off the ground like a particularly stubborn band-aid, and whipped his body like wet laundry and Daffy was inflated again.

"Did anyone catch that plate?" he mumbled incoherently as little bubbles burst around his dazed head. But Daffy quickly shook his senses back, and ran to the person he was looking for.

With his back on the prop was an anthropomorphic pig. He had pointy pig's ears, pig's feet with small black hooves, and pink skin. The only clothing he wore was a blue jacket and a red bow tie. Daffy ran over to Porky, grabbed his jacket's sides and shook him furiously, waking up the peaceful pig. "We've got a really big problem, butterball!!"

"W-W-What's the matter, D-Daffy?" Porky asked, speaking in his usual stutter.

"You won't believe it!" Daffy exclaimed melodramatically, waving his hand insanely – while still holding on to Porky, so he was being brandished all around. "It's big! It's huge! It's humongous! It's life as we know it!!"

"L-L-Like your ego?" Porky deadpanned.

"Well, not that important," he shrugged, dropping Porky to the ground with a "thud". "But it's super important!" His eyes looked back and forth, and leaned forward as he whispered quietly, "And super secret, too."

"L-L-Lola?" Porky asked.

"Not even the rabbit girl!" Daffy declared.

"M-M-Melissa?"

"You don't seem to grasp the words 'super-secret-that-no-one-must-know-about-it-but-us!'" Daffy stared him askance. "No one – and I mean, NO ONE – can know about this!"

"W-W-Well, you just revea-revea-revea-, you just blew it." Porky pointed behind the duck's back.

Daffy stood with a straight back, eyes wide. But then they came half-closed again as he held up a little sign that said, "Screw all this nonsense; I'm going into drama." He took a deep breath and turned around. Standing there was Melissa and another anthropomorphic animal – this time of a rabbit. She had tan fur, white fur on her feet, as well as from the lower half her face reaching down to her abdomen, and back to the back of her fluffy tail. She had a little pink nose, eyes with blue iris, and blond hair.

The two lovely ladies glared irately at the little black duck. "Well, Daffy?" Lola asked, crossing her arms. "We're waiting."

Daffy coughed, and tried to speak but all that came out was babbling, "Okay, er…well, dur… Ladies! I have to say… What _do_ I have to say? Erm…"

"You ha-ha-have to tell them the tru-tru-tru, spill your deep and dark secret," Porky said nonchalantly.

Daffy's neck creaked as he turned his head toward the pig, and hissed, "_You're deth-picable…_"

_**End of Chapter 1**_


	3. Stardom Key

_**Chapter 2: Stardom Key**_

"What do you mean you've got to leave?"

Rika and Kuro sat down on a couch in Rika's home as their parents informed them of a departure. Sora still retained his youthful nature and looks. His hair is as spiky as ever and still wore oversized shoes. THAT Rika couldn't figure out why. Kairi was as beautiful as ever with her hair just a wee bit longer. And Riku looked exactly like he did years ago. "Well, Rika, we have to go meet with King Mickey," Kairi explained.

"Yeah, but _why_ do you have to see him?" she asked.

"Let's just say that it's very important," Sora said.

"Saving the universe work, huh?" Kuro deadpanned.

Riku ruffled his son's hair. "Heh, my son's got a good head on his shoulders."

Sora leaned down toward Rika, and whispered, "Still doesn't know about the magazines, eh?" Rika giggled, shaking her head. "Thought as much. And everyone says _I'm_ the oblivious one."

"I'm sorry, you two," Kairi said. "But I'm afraid you'll have to-"

"Stay here," Rika said, pokerfaced.

"Where it's safe," Kuro continued monotonously.

Sora scratched the top of his head awkwardly. "Well, that basically sums things up simple and clean-like."

"I'd like to counter that the second you guys leave that something bad is gonna have to Destiny Islands," Rika argued. "I just have a bad feeling about this…"

"And we've got to stop letting you watch _Star Wars_ movies," Sora said obliviously, patting his daughter's head.

"And you call ME the oblivious one?" Riku muttered, arching an eyebrow.

Both Kuro and Rika sighed. "Fine."

"Take care of her, kid," Riku said to Kuro.

"But touch my daughter and I'll have your lungs!" Sora hissed sinisterly, holding up a pair of scissors. Kuro gulped, and slowly nodded.

Rika stood up and hugged both of her parents tightly. "Don't die," she said simply, suppressing a cry.

"Come on, Rika!" Sora chuckled at his daughter's paranoia. "It's just a quick trip to Disney Castle! If anything happens, we'll make a quick call back here." Rika motioned her head up and down, releasing Sora and Kairi. "We'll see you soon," he said softly, giving her a kiss on the top of the head. Rika and Kuro waved farewell to their parents from behind the house's window as their Gummi ship took into the sky and out the atmosphere. Rika sighed, hoping only for her parents and godfather to have a safe journey.

"Say, want to play spin the bottle?"

_SLAP!_

_**LTL-LTL-LTL**_

_Dear Daff-ster,_

_What's up, Duck? How goes running the cartoons? I'm sure everyone's acting…Looney. Anyway, I have to let you know I'm worried. A bunch of stars has been blinking out faster than Hollywood cranking out poorly-made movies based on old television shows. I can only guess this has some menacing force is threatening the universe. Nothing new. I went to check things out. But I need you and Porky to take care of something for me: Take a ship and head toward a world called Traverse Town. You should be able to locate a guy named No Limit. Real imaginative name, huh? Normally we wouldn't be able to reach Traverse Town, but I already unlocked a path for you to take so don't worry about that. Point is: Find No Limit, and he'll tell you the rest of the story. I would tell you it, but I think I might be being followed. Toodles! So long, Screwy, see you in St. Louie!_

_The Academy Award-Winning Rabbit, Bugs Bunny. _

_P.S._

_Lie to Lola for me. Lie like the DEAD!_

"This doesn't look good…" Melissa said.

The four Looney Tunes returned to the forest studio set as Daffy read the letter to them in perfect imitation of Bugs' voice. Lola swiped the letter from the duck, and reread it. "I just wish that rabbit didn't always take things into his own hands," Lola sighed.

"Gee…" Porky said, putting his hand close to his mouth. "I hope he's all ri-ri-ri, not hurt in any way."

"Bunny Boy's off to save the universe?" Daffy sulked. "Of course. He one-ups me again."

"Daffy, this is serious," Melissa scolded, and turned to her friend Lola. "Don't worry; Bugs can handle himself."

Lola shook her head sadly. "It's not that I'm worried about him; it's that he was so sure of himself," she explained. "It'll be his undoing… And, I also want him to know that we're always here to back him up."

"Of course, Lola," Melissa nodded. "But he's Bugs Bunny! Would you expect anything less than overconfidence?"

Lola gave a soft laugh. "Good point."

"D-D-Don't worry, L-Lola!" Porky said boldly. "You can t-t-trust us to find B-B-Bugs!"

"I'd rather he _stay_ M.I.A!" Daffy scowled, crossing his arms, and turned away. "We got some cartoons to make!"

"Daffy…" Lola whispered angrily, glaring daggers at the little black duck – literally. Daggers suddenly appeared and were launched toward Daffy, who gulped.

"Uh-oh." He yelped as he dodged the knives as they stuck to the wall he was standing by, leaving him in an extremely uncomfortable position. "Okay! Okay! I'll go search for Bugs!"

"Thank you," Lola smiled deviously. "But just to make sure you do what the letter says, I'm gonna have these guys journal your travels."

After Porky pulled away enough daggers from the wall to allow Daffy to fall down in a heap, the duck looked left and right around the set, but didn't spot a single person. "Uh…is your brain all right there, rabbit chick? 'Cause I don't see-"

"HIIIIIIIII!!" three anthropomorphic creatures hanging upside down dropped an inch before Daffy's face.

"**AHHHHHHHHH!!**" Daffy screamed as he zoomed into the air, slamming into the ceiling and getting his head stuck there.

The three creatures landed on their feet. They all had black fur, white gloves, and faces with red noses that are similar to a clown's and were brother and sister. The oldest was also the tallest, and he only wore a pair of brown slacks. The middle child had his tongue stuck out, and wore a blue shirt and a backward red cap. The youngest child was the smallest, and wore a pink skirt and had a yellow flower to tie her hair…ears…whatever together.

"Who are you?" Porky asked as he grabbed a latter to pull Daffy out of the ceiling.

"We thought you'll never ask," the youngest sibling smiled.

"We're the Warner Brothers!" the oldest and middle child declared as they placed their arms around each other's shoulders.

"And the Warner Sister!" the youngest added.

"Yakko!" the oldest shouted.

"Wakko!" the middle child boomed.

"Princess Angelina Contessa Louisa Francesca Banana Fanna Bo Besca…the Third," the youngest smiled cutely. "But you can call me Dot!"

"Oooooooh no!" Daffy snapped, empting the dirt out of his ears. "Not them! Anybody but them! Why do you think the studio keeps them locked in the Warner Tower?!"

"Aw," Yakko, Wakko, and Dot pulled Daffy into a tight embrace. "You're our new special friend!"

"Just shoot me…" he bemoaned.

"Well," Porky said to the girls. "We better ge-ge-ge, leave and get to Traverse Town."

"Be careful, boys," Lola said.

"And don't do anything stupid," Melissa sighed.

Daffy unhappily led Porky and the Warners out of the set. "So how are we get-get-get, arriving at our destination?" Porky asked.

"Why, with my spaceship," Daffy answered simply.

"You have a spaceship?" Porky deadpanned.

"Of course, Eager Young Space Cadet. I am, after all, DUCK DODGERS OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH AND A HALF CENTURY!!" Daffy roared mightily as he held his finger up high in the air and struck a heroic pose with a bright searchlight shooting out in the background.

"Where did the light come from?" Dot asked.

"Yo!" Wakko waved to you, the readers.

"Ye-Ye-Yeah," Porky rolled his eyes. "You stole it from the set, didn't you?"

"Right!" Daffy smiled as he pulled out a remote with a big red button on it, and pushed the button. The door to one of the sets' slowly raised open with a groan as mist flooded out from the inside. Inside were a launch bay, and a balcony control area where an anthropomorphic brown coyote was at, and a hi-tech, long, blue, futuristic spaceship with the name "S.S. Dodgers" engraved on its side.

"Faboo…" Wakko whistled, gaping in awe.

Daffy walked over to a red telephone and picked up the receiver. "Hello? Daffy Duck/Duck Dodgers to Wile E. Coyote! Whenever you're ready, let us know!" Daffy placed the receiver back in its place, and rested casually as he examined his finger-feathers. After about five seconds, he pulled the receiver up again. "Hurry up! We don't have all day! Why won't you answer?! What's the matter?! Cat got your tongue?!"

"Eh, coyotes don't talk, Daffy," Porky said obviously.

"So can't duck and pigs, but here we are," Daffy shrugged, setting the receiver back.

"Mheep, mheep!"

"**YAHHHHHHHHHH!!**" Daffy screamed as he, once again, blasted to the ceiling again. Behind him was a large blue and purple roadrunner with a few long feathers jutting out the top of his head and tail.

"Hey, Roadrunner," Porky greeted the bird. The Roadrunner held out his wing and handed the pig a piece of paper. "Thanks."

"Mheep, mheep!" The Roadrunner nodded as he took off with a trail of smoke.

Porky's eyes looked back and forth on the paper as he read it. "Hey look, Daffy! Wile E. says we have to wa-wa-wa, use our feet to get to the ship."

"Fantastic," Daffy groaned as he held up his left thumb, his head still impaled through the ceiling.

Daffy, Porky, Yakko, Wakko, and Dot seated their bottoms into their seats of the _S.S. Dodgers_. Daffy had put on a green space jumpsuit with blue gloves, boots, and belt. And Porky also change outfits as he switched into a purple number with a hood pulled over his head, and a little antenna ending with a yellow ball bobbling on top. Porky pushed a few button on his control panel, and nodded. "All right. We're ready to g-g-g, to take off."

"Then let's fire this baby up!" Daffy/Dodgers exclaimed, slamming his foot to the petal to the metal – but the ship sank backwards into the ground. "Whoops!" he chortled awkwardly. "Had the silly thing in reverse." After a quick stick shift, the _S.S. Dodgers_ took off into space, and in for an adventure it'll never forget.

_**DI-DI-DI**_

Rika sat on her bed, feeling useless that her parents were off fighting off a new evil in the universe, and was useless to do anything about it. Being sick of the uselessness, she jumped out of her bed and walked out of her house. She just needed some air. It was a dark night. A very abnormal dark night. There was no tropical wind. No hot air. As a matter of fact, there was no sound at all and Rika could feel a chill down her spine. "What's up with this weather?" she mumbled as a breath of hot air showed. "What the…?" Rika breathed out again, seeing the breath that could only happen in the coldest times. "That's so serious freaky-doo. Jeez, where _is_ everyone?"

"Gone," a sinister voice said, seemingly out of nowhere. Rika gasped, her head darted around to find the source of the voice. But she saw nothing, but her own breath.

"Show yourself!" Rika shouted bravely even though she was terrified inside. "And what do you mean 'gone'?"

"Calm yourself, is that any way to greet your father's old friend?"

"Old friend…?" Rika repeated. "Who are you?"

"Didn't he tell you? I'm hurt. After all, if it hadn't been for me, he wouldn't be alive today."

"What?" She shook her head, utterly confused.

"No matter. Now, after all these years my revenge will be complete!" A huge green fire erupted from the ground, startling Rika. Emerging from the flames was a dark figure. Rika could hardly draw breath as she quickly realized who the figure was from the description her father gave to her as he told of his previous adventures.

"Maleficent."

An evil witch with pale, green skin in a raven black robe, horns jutting from the top of her head, and wooden staff in her left hand. "What…what are you doing here?" Rika whispered, feeling nothing be dread in her heart. "I thought you died!"

Maleficent scoffed. "If I had died, why have I returned? And now I will have my revenge. Where is your father?"

That gave Rika great relief. She didn't know where he was. "Sorry to disappoint, Maleficent," she smirked boldly. "But my parents and Riku have already left."

"What?" Maleficent snarled. "They think that there's an evil greater than I?!"

"You seriously got to get your ego deflated," Rika said, sticking out her tongue and blowing a raspberry.

"You impotent…! No matter. I shall have my revenge. And you all will soon bow to me!" the dark leader of the Heartless laughed evilly. "Now this world will end. Such a shame that my enemy's child will go with it!" She cackled maliciously as she disappeared in another blast of green flames. But she left behind a present: a horde of Shadow Heartless.

"Heartless…" Rika gasped quietly. "_They're back._" She stepped backwards, bit by bit, and broke into a run. The Heartless weren't going to let her get away that easily, as they took chase. _Come on, Rika! Remember what you learned!_ she thought bitterly to herself. Rika spun around in a dime, and held out her hands side-by-side. "FIRE!" she exclaimed, channeling the magic in her heart. But only a little spark fell out of her palms, landed on the ground, and fizzled out. If the Heartless could laugh, they would have.

"Aw, crap!" Rika ran away again, the Heartless not far behind. She looked back for only a moment, but tripped and fell to the ground. She turned around just as one Shadow pounced. She held up her arm to defend herself.

A bright light exploded around her. She had to shut her eyes from such a light. Rika felt great warmth that she had only felt once before – during her dream. When the light disappeared, Rika opened her left eye, then her right, and lowered her arm. All the Heartless seemed to have been vanquished. "Either I pulled a Houdini, or that light killed all those Heartless. What the hell happened?" Rika shook her head, but was relieved that the Heartless were gone. When she tried to rest her body by leaning backwards on her arms, her left hand collided with something metallic. Barely addressing it, she picked the metallic object up to see what it was.

"A Keyblade," she mused, and set it down again. Rika's eyes shot wide open, bugging out. She did a double-take as she pulled the Keyblade to her eyesight again. It was an exact duplicate of Sora and Mickey's, but hers had a whitish blade and black hilt, and its keychain was of a rabbit's head instead of King Mickey's. "That dream must've been like a test or something for Keyblade wielders…" Rika whispered to herself as she pondered for a possible explanation. Suddenly, she smirked. "Wait 'til Kuro gets a load of this."

The ground rumbled beneath her bum, shaking furiously as Rika attempted to stand up again. "Oh, what _now?_" she griped. Rika looked down at the sandy ground as a silvery portal seemed to appear. Rising from it was a monstrous beast – the very same beast from her test dream. Rika gulped nervously. Sure, she was able to take that dinosaur rip-off in her dream, but this was real. And the real Rika wasn't a match for a monster like this. She was going to be die.

_Aw, for God's sakes! Just jump in to attack!_

"Oh, great. Now I'm going insane," Rika declared.

_Insane my ass! Just avoid the tail and go for the throat!_

Rika raised an eyebrow. "Okay, maybe I'm not going insane. Probably just a coping mechanism-" She yelped, jumping away as the monster swung its tail at her. "Maybe I should stop talking now."

Rika leaped high into the air, landing on the beast's arm and stabbed her Keyblade down. It released a high shriek of pain, thrashing about and threw Rika back to the ground. The beast charged its jaws forward, attempting to devour her. But Rika's reaction was quick; she dashed in, and slid on her knees as she avoided its teeth barely – like a game of limbo. And with a final thrust, she impaled its neck with her weapon. It cried tremendously, stomping backwards with the Keyblade still speared into its throat as blots of silvery blood leaked from the wound, until the monster finally dissipated into nothing.

Rika smiled with relief, but a puzzled look dawned on her face as she saw a little white orb floated away into the sky. "What was that?" she asked herself as she walked over to her Keyblade that dropped when the monster was vanquished. "That wasn't a heart…" Rika picked up her Keyblade. "And what was that voice earlier?" She looked down at the Keyblade, and smirked. "It wasn't you, was it?" She chuckled.

Suddenly, the ground shook wrathfully again. Rika almost lost her balance, but a hand reached out and caught her arm. She looked up the arm to see its owner. "Kuro!" she exclaimed cheerfully, throwing her arms around him for a hug, and then slapping the back of his head. "I could've used your help back there!"

"I know…" Kuro said awkwardly. "Sorry…and OW! You're strong for a girl!" He shook his head. "This isn't the time! The Heartless are attacking the Islands! We've got to get outta here ASAP!"

"Who are you calling a sap?" Rika sniffed, feeling undignified.

"I meant 'as soon as possible'!" Kuro groaned, rolling his eyes. He jabbed his left thumb behind himself, where a Gummi ship was floating. "I brought the extra Gummi ship!"

"You mean they're going to destroy our world?" Rika said. "We can't let them do that! Look!" She held up her Keyblade. "See? I have a Keyblade, so we can seal the world's Keyhole! I'm not going to let them do this to our home!"

Kuro shook her shoulders. "Get a grip, Rika! There's no time left for that! There's nothing more we can do!" He dragged a struggling Rika into the Gummi ship. But before he could get in, a group of Heartless was marching to them. "I'll hold them off!" Kuro yelled. "You get going!"

"You idiot!" Rika shouted. "You don't stand a chance!"

Kuro just smirked arrogantly. "Says who? You got the Keyblade, Rika. They're going after you, anyway. I love ya, Rika."

"I'm not letting you die here!" Rika said, but Kuro shoved her inside and sealed the door shut. Rika continued screaming from inside, pounding against the door's window as the ship took off.

Kuro stared as the ship's engines were about to fire up, and turned to the Heartless. "Sorry, boys. Your dessert is gone." He held up his arms. "But your main course is still here!"

"YOU DUMBASS!!" Rika screamed. "YOU HAVE TO BE A HERO?!" Tears dripped from her eyes as she continued slamming her fists against the door until they bled.

Rika sank to her knees, crying. Her home was going to be destroyed and her best friend was down there. She started feeling the uselessness again. She couldn't do anything right, even with the Keyblade. She was _useless._

_**End of Chapter 2**_


	4. Traversing Traverse Town

_**Chapter 3 – Traversing Traverse Town**_

"N-n-nice landing, C-c-_captain,_" Porky said sarcastically, licking his left thumb, putting out a flame on his Cadet uniform's hood, and stripped it off for his usual blue jacket and red bowtie. The two Tunes and Warners had managed to reach the Victorian-styled world home to people who had escaped the destruction of their worlds with no trouble. But their duck captain had decided to celebrate their small accomplishment by opening a bottle of champagne. The cork had exploded out of the bottle's tight neck and ricochet all around the cockpit and its instruments; resulting in their (crash) landing.

"The ship is still flyable, and I'm standing by that!" Daffy said as he ripped off his Galactic Protectorate uniform, revealing red polka dotted white boxer shorts. "Whoops!" He quickly threw his hands over his underwear, and blushed. "How embarrassing…"

"Say, siblings?" Yakko said, gazing up at the eternally night sky of Traverse Town. "What happens to a disappearing star?"

"They go into retirement and play golf?" Wakko guessed.

"They completely fade into obscurity as the media ignores them and drown out their sorrows in ice cream?" Dot suggested.

"Not that kind of star; a LITERAL star!" Taken aback by Yakko's declaration, Daffy, Porky, Wakko and Dot looked to the sky as a star was indeed blinking and finally disappearing out of existence.

"Come on," Daffy said with an unusual seriousness as he stormed away. "This only means we have to hurry up and find this Limit character. Move it, troops!"

Yakko, Wakko, and Dot zipped into a straight line in military uniforms, complete with boots and helmets. "Sir! Yes, sir!" they saluted in unison. "Hut! Hut! Hut! Hut!" The Warner children marched together, by age order, behind Daffy.

Porky sighed. "W-w-what's going o-on?"

_**TT-TT-TT**_

Rika opened the door to the Gummi ship and hopped out. Judging by her father's stories, she recognized what world she was on immediately – Traverse Town, the first world Sora had ever gone to when he began his live as a Keyblade wielder. Rika also knew it was created from fragments of the worlds destroyed by the Heartless and it served as a home for people who manage to escape the destruction of their own worlds. She was now like them, separated from her family and friends and now had to figure out what to do next. "Maybe I can find someone with a map that can show me to Radiant Garden…" Rika muttered to herself. Suddenly, a puzzled look crossed her face. "Why am I talking to myself? Stop it, Rika!"

_Hee-hee, you're silly._

"Oh, who asked you?!" Rika angrily snapped as she summoned her Keyblade into her right hand. She then groaned, "Great, now I'm talking to an inanimate object. I HAVE gone crazy…"

_No more crazy than the universe permits._

"Hmm…" Rika grumbled. "Just to humor my temporary insanity, mind telling me what I should call you? 'Keyblade' seems a bit redundant."

_Heh, all-righty then. You can just refer to me as "Stardom Key"._

"'Stardom Key'?" she repeated. "Sounds pretty stupid."

_So says the girl who's talking to herself and an "inanimate object."_

"Bleh, good point," Rika sighed. Ignoring Stardom Key's giggling, Rika stomped to the second district to find some sort of help. Unknown to her she was being watched.

Up on top of the roof top of a building was a group of eight strangely dressed people. "So…she's the Link?" a twelve-year old girl observing Rika through a pair of binoculars said. She had long pink hair that stretched down to her waist, her eyes were a beautiful emerald green, and had what seemed to _cat_ ears on her head. She simply wore a pink sleeveless shirt, black jeans, gloves and shoes.

"That's right, Mystery," a boy sixteen-year old boy with short light red hair and yellowish eyes nodded. He wore a white jumpsuit that had blue lines flowing along it like circuits, and blue gloves, boots and belt. On his torso was a picture of a clock, and an impressively technological hammer with an orange handle was strapped to his belt. "And she's the daughter of the hero of the universe. What are the chances, eh, Zee?"

"Totally in tune with the flow of the universe, Time Zone…" another sixteen-year old boy agreed. He had long brown hair that reached his shoulders and electric blue eyes. Zee wore a yellow open vest with a red flame design, dirty blue jeans that were torn off at the knees, military green boots, and a yellow bandana was tied around his forehead. "Just like those brownies I made."

"I thought I told you not make any more of those?!" a large twenty-something-year old black man snapped irritably. Easily the tallest of the group, standing six-feet tall, the man was well-built with massive muscles around his arms and veins actually popping from them. He was bald, but had a decent-sized black beard. He wore a sleeveless green shirt with a white lab coat that had its sleeves ripped off to accommodate his arm size, and a pair of black pants and shoes.

"You should realize he wouldn't by now, Doc," a sixteen-year old boy sighed. He had extremely short black hair and black eyes that went with it. He wore traditional black robes over a black t-shirt inside, black pants, and strapped to his side was a katana with a gray hilt in a sheath.

"And you should mention that you've grown quite fond of them, Wolf," an eighteen-year old Asian girl added. She had long raven hair that reached her waist, and pretty brown eyes that seemed to growing black. She wore a purple, tight-fitting jumpsuit that had a triangular hole revealing top of her bosom, a pair of white gloves stretched to her elbows, and white boots reaching her knees.

"You totally got him there, Shift!" yet another sixteen-year old boy swooned over the girl, pulling her into a dip. He had dirty blond hair that stretched to his shoulders, blue eyes, and a few whiskers growing on his chin. He wore a silver overcoat over a black t-shirt, silver bellbottoms, gloves, boots with spurs attached at the heels, and a black utility belt with two holsters carrying (strangely enough) slingshots – one wooden and other more metallic looking.

"_Long Shot_…" Wolf growled, but sighed to keep his stoic stance. "So, when are we going to reveal ourselves?" he asked the last member and leader of the group.

"Soon, friend-o," the leader smirked. He was a sixteen-year-old boy. His hair was pitch black and messy that spilled everywhere. He wears a black jacket without a zipper but with a hood – white lines slimming on the edges of the jacket. On the inside of the jacket was a jumpsuit without sleeves. He had a white belt, boots, gloves, and finally a black thin-strip mask and black goggles with a white strap just above the mask. On the torso of the jumpsuit were the letters "N" and "L" that intercepted with each other. And strapped to his back was a long katana with a dark green hilt and guard shaped into a swirl in a light blue sheath and a black shotgun. "Rika just needs to see for herself what she's gonna be dealing with…"

"Oh, how enigmatic," Mystery commented sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"Cut the sarcasm!"

_**TT-TT-TT**_

"So you're saying that I should accept his feelings for me?" Rika asked, wandering through the second district.

_I'm saying you should at least consider them. He did sacrifice himself to save you, you know?_

"That's only guessing if he survived…" Rika sighed dejectedly.

_You're not a very hopeful person, are ya?_

"Cut the sarcasm!" she snapped.

_Why am I suddenly having a feeling of déjà vu?_

"Or maybe it's just gas?" Rika said sardonically.

_No, wait…it's really familiar…_

Rika was about to respond when she could've sworn she heard some sort of growling. She checked her stomach if it was that, but obviously it wasn't that. She turned around and gave a small squeak. Behind her was a monstrous being. It looked like a Velociraptor dinosaur, but was white with black stripes around its body. Rika wasn't sure, but on its forehead was the third insignia she had sawn in her dream back at Destiny Islands – a black heart with a white cross on the bottom. It wasn't a Heartless. But it ain't no Nobody either. It was like that monster she fought in the dream and at home.

The creature growled quietly as it creped closer to Rika. Rika was absolutely in total terror, completely frozen in fear of the creature. She could feel some great power radiating from it. And it wasn't a good radiating. After a long wait, the creature charged at Rika. She quickly threw up her Keyblade to guard. The creature's mouth bit into it, and Rika tried to keep up her guard. Both seemed to be evenly matched until the creature jerked his head and pulled the Keyblade out of Rika's hands. It spat it out to the side and rammed Rika in the chest with its head.

Rika got knocked meters away and landed hard on her back. She was in serious trouble as she tried to open her eyes, but winced in pain. The creature stalked over to her and stood tall. Rika closed her eyes, preparing for the worst. Just as the creature was about to strike, a katana with what seemed to be shadows over the blade impaled the creature's back. The creature screeched in pain as it dissipated. The katana landed on the ground and stuck there. Wolf appeared from the shadows, picked up his weapon, and gracefully placed it back in its sheath. No Limit leapt off a building and rushed to Rika's side. Rika barely had any strength left as she lost consciousness.

No Limit unsheathed his sword, raised it over Rika, and casted a Cure spell on her. Her injuries were healed, but she was still knocked out. "Good thing we arrived in time," Wolf said as he picked Rika up in his arms.

"Things are worse than I thought," No Limit whispered as he brushed a hair out of Rika's eyes. "A lot worse…"

_**End of Chapter 3**_

I'm sorry for the short chapter. I just wanted to end it here. (awkwardly smiling)


	5. Exposition Nation

_Yes, before we start this chapter, I'd like to make a little announcement. I realized that it was a pretty stupid idea to have EIGHT of my Team Limit characters be in this. So, I decided to cut it down to the "core" members of No Limit, Mystery, Wolf and Time Zone. I apologize for any inconvenience. Thank you and enjoy the chapter._

_**Chapter 4 – Exposition Nation**_

"We've searched everywhere!" Daffy screamed in frustration, ripping his black feathers from the top of his head with each hand as his team wandered down the back alley of Traverse Town's second district. "Where is that stupid No Limit guy?!"

"Take a chill pill, my main man," Wakko, with sunglasses on, said as he placed his arm around Daffy's shoulder.

"Ayyy!" Yakko said with a black leather jacket, gelled hair, stuck his thumbs up and grinned widely with gleaming teeth.

"Shut it, Fonzie!" Daffy hissing, prodding Yakko in the chest.

"Uh, hello?"

"YIPE!" Daffy screamed as he leaped high into the air. Luckily for him, there was no ceiling and landed back down in Porky's arms.

Porky rolled his eyes. "Gu-gu-gu, great w-way of re-re-referencing our c-cartoons," he deadpanned.

The two Looney Tunes and three Warners turned around to see two people behind them and saw two young teenagers in bizarre outfits. "I'm sorry," Mystery apologized to Daffy. "I didn't mean to startle you."

"Er, you didn't startle me!" Daffy declared, attempting to regain his composure. It didn't help much when Porky dropped his partner on the ground. He quickly hopped back on his feet. "You just merely caught me off guard, which I most assuredly assure you that will never happen again!"

"Boo," Dot said quietly behind his back.

"YAH!" Daffy screamed as he zoomed high in the air again.

"Oh-oh-oh, bother…" Porky sighed, shaking his head in disappointment.

_**TT-TT-TT**_

_Oi! Rika! Wake up! Don't make me rack around your brain to do so, because I will!_

"Oh, shut up," Rika moaned in pain as she slowly started regaining her consciousness. Her eyes slowly fluttered open and eyed the lightly turning ceiling fan of a hotel room. Sitting up in an upright position, Rika was lying in a bed of a green room of Traverse Town's hotel. She closed her eyes again and rubbed her aching temples. "Ugh…what happened?"

"You were attacked."

Rika sluggishly turned her head when she realized that she wasn't alone in the room. With her were the two strangely dressed teenagers who rescued her earlier, No Limit and Wolf. No Limit was sitting in a chair next her bed and Wolf was casually standing with his back leaning on the wall with his arms crossed. "You okay?" No Limit asked worriedly.

"Yeah, thanks for rescuing me from that dinosaur," Rika said, smiling appreciatively.

"No problem," No Limit said, smiling warmly to her.

"And that was no dinosaur," Wolf stated.

"Um, not to be rude, but who are you?" Rika asked curiously, swinging her legs so they were dangling off the bed's side.

"About bloody time," No Limit sighed in relief. "It's really weird for the readers to know who we are when the main character doesn't!"

"What?"

"Nothing," No Limit waved his hand dismissively. "My name's No Limit. NL or Limit for short. And the wannabe samurai's Wolf.

"Hey." Wolf waved his hand carelessly at her. "Your hair's a mess."

Rika raised an eyebrow at him. "Don't mind him, Wolf likes to 'help people' by being blunt," No Limit explained awkwardly, his warm smile somewhat dropping to an apologetic one.

Undoing her ponytail and starting to pull on her hair to straighten it, Rika asked, "What was that thing that attacked me?"

The two exchanged unsure stares, but Wolf answered, "It was a Soulful."

"Soulful?" Rika asked, tying her hair back into its original style. "I heard of Heartless and Nobodies, but Soulfuls?"

_**TT-TT-TT**_

In the red room of the same hotel Mystery and Time Zone brought Daffy, Porky and the Warners there to do some explaining. "Okay," Mystery began, intertwining her fingers. "You know what Heartless and Nobodies are?"

"Ye-ye-ye, naturally," Porky nodded.

"Okay, um…how can I put this?" Time Zone pondered thoughtfully. "You know when people become Heartless and a Nobody is created? How the Heartless is the hearts of people that got infected with darkness and Nobodies are the bodies of the people? Well – what's left?"

_**TT-TT-TT**_

Rika looked quite confident in the answer, held up her index finger, and opened her mouth…only to close it, drop her finger, and put a confused look crossed her face. No Limit smiled and answered, "The _soul_, Rika. The soul."

"Wait a sec," Rika spoke up. "How do you know my name?"

"We're friends with King Mickey," Wolf answered. "He told us all about your father, mother and you, their child."

"Anyway," No Limit continued, "when a Heartless and a Nobody is created the soul of them still lives on. And the soul-"

"Wait a minute. I thought that the Nobodies held the souls of the people they were," Rika asked.

"Please let me finish," No Limit said as he held up one of his gloved hands. "That is partially true. Both the Heartless and Nobody holds the soul – at least part of it. The soul is divided into two parts: the memory and emotions. The Heartless holds the emotions, and that's why the Heartless are focused on instinct. Nobodies hold the memory and that's why they remember most of their lives before they became Nobodies. Although a great majority of both goes to who-knows-where. Personally, I think they go to heaven or Kingdom Hearts."

_**TT-TT-TT**_

"But what the heck does that have to do with Soulfuls?" Daffy asked.

"Soulfuls are those remaining souls," Mystery explained. "There was a group of scientists called the Purifiers that have been tampering with the path souls take when they go up, causing the souls to wander aimlessly across the worlds."

"Wa-wander the worlds?" Porky repeated. "L-l-like g-g-gho, poltergeists?"

"Well, you could put it like that," Time Zone shrugged. "It's more torment on the soul than anyone else."

"But that isn't even the worst part," Mystery frowned. "The Purifiers took those souls, Heartless and Nobodies and combined them together to form an unholy creature: a Soulful. You see, these people believe that what they're doing is right and were in hopes to believe that these experiments will allow them to find a cure to Heartless. But they were so wrong… They broke the laws of life and spirituality."

"Then what?" Daffy asked. "What happened?"

_**TT-TT-TT**_

"You know how the worlds are disconnected?" Wolf asked. "And how it is said that Heartless are the cause of the broken walls between worlds? That's wrong. The worlds were _meant_ to be connected. In fact, they were all one world until Soulfuls were created. When they were created, the laws of life were broken and divided up the world into separate worlds."

"The worlds used to be one world?!" Rika gasped.

"Yeah," No Limit nodded. "And you know what else? Those…_freaks_ who created the Soulfuls went further. When they heard of Traverse Town and how it's made up of fragments of other worlds, it got them thinking. Since it was the worlds were once one and they wished to bring them together again, they decided that they'll use the Soulfuls are to go out into the universe and destroy the worlds."

_**TT-TT-TT**_

"W-w-WHAT?!" Porky screamed, slapping his forehead.

"Exactly." Mystery nodded. "They thought that with all the worlds destroyed and their fragments go and form Traverse Town, they would have brought the worlds back together again."

"But that's cr-cr-cr, totally insane!" Porky exclaimed.

"And that's not the worst of it," Time Zone said grimly. "Time for more info on Soulfuls. They are the souls of those people who lost their hearts to the darkness, but the thing is…when they are combined with Heartless and Nobodies, they also gain their dark properties. They then take the form of the most pre-evolved creatures that walk the worlds. Like that dinosaur we showed you. It's called a Vela_soul_raptor, the most common Soulful. The thing about Soulfuls is that they are like Heartless – only much worse.

_**TT-TT-TT**_

"The Purifiers didn't want anyone to lose their hearts and become Heartless," No Limit explained. "So they also had their Soulfuls to take the people and keep them safe as the world is being destroyed. But they didn't know that when a Soulful finds a person – they devour the person's soul."

"_What?_" Rika gasped.

"Exactly," Wolf growled. "That's what makes them worse than Heartless. At least Heartless has the chance of being turned back to normal, but without a soul…they just can't live. You're alive, sure. But you're just a lifeless husk."

"But why did they attack me?" Rika asked. "We're on Traverse Town and the Purifiers are attacking other worlds."

"That's because Soulfuls have been forming on their own," No Limit answered. "Their supply of souls isn't enough. Rika, I know this might sound a little shocking…" he sighed, "but my team and I aren't from this universe."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"As in we're from a completely alternate universe parallel to this one," he explained. "You see, not only were the worlds separated from each other but some worlds were completely blasted into their own universes, making it virtually impossible for those worlds to ever come in contact again. However, it was discovered that those who wielded Keyblades or held incredible magical abilities that far surpasses others were able to cross universes. But the Soulfuls, Heartless, and Nobodies are also capable of crossing the inter-dimensional planes. Recently, the Purifiers have been targeting the other universes as well as this one. Your dad and His Majesty had departed to them to warn their world leaders."

"So that's what my parents are doing," Rika whispered.

"Yeah," Wolf nodded. "They are trying to warn the other universes and also seek a way to finish the Purifiers. For if the Purifiers succeed and bring all the worlds into Traverse Town…all of existence will cease."

Rika's eyes widened. "All of existence will end?"

"But enough about that," No Limit declared. "That's all you need to know for now. Now it's time to tell you what you must do."

"Wait, wait, wait," Rika waved her hands. "You're giving me a mission?"

"More like a journey," No Limit tilted his head left and right. "But yeah. There's something you need to know. There is a prophecy – a prophecy that tells about a Keyblade Bearer who will unify and reconnect the worlds into one again: the Link. And, according to the prophecy, with the worlds unified the peoples' souls and hearts will return, the Heartless, Nobodies and Soulful gone, and order shall be brought back to the universe. And that Prophecy is about _you_." He pointed at Rika.

"Me?" she pointed at herself. "How can you be so sure it's me?"

"Because the prophecy states that the Link will be the offspring of the Keyblade Wielder who brings back the worlds that has been lost to the Darkness," Wolf explained. "And that was your father, Sora."

Rika dropped her head into her hands, eyes opened as wide as she could possibly stretch. She was to be expected to save all the worlds and bring them together. The person will save the entire universe when she couldn't even save her own world from being destroyed. This great responsibly was just too much for here. She couldn't do this. She wasn't strong enough. She was _useless._ Rika ran. She ran out of the room and ran away from her life.

"Rika!" No Limit was about to chase after her, but Wolf caught his shoulder.

"Everyone needs a moment," he said, and sighed. "Why did it have to be so soon?"

_**TT-TT-TT**_

Rika kept running. She kept running until she reached the third district, exhausted. She breathed heavily and cried at the same time. She just couldn't handle the pressure of saving all those people, saving all those lives. How could she possibly be the Link and bring order back into the universe? She couldn't possibly be strong enough to do it.

_Rika, you've got to do this. It's your destiny. You can't just refuse it._

Snarling, Rika summoned the Stardom Key into her hand and glared at it through wet eyes. "AHHHHHHHHHHH!" She tossed it aside only for it to reappear in her hand. "Why?!" she screamed as she repeated threw away the Keyblade only to have it reappear back into her hand. "Why me?! Why did you choose me?! I just can't do this! I'm not strong enough!" After one last throw and reappearance, she broke down to her knees and cried silently. "_Why?_" she coughed, sniffling.

Meanwhile, after being informed of their duty assigned to them, Daffy, Porky and the Warners stood up on a rooftop. "Okay! We're to find the Keyblade Bearer, who is the Link, and help him or her to unify the worlds!" Yakko declared.

"Existence is going to end, ain't it?" Dot asked.

"Yep," Yakko nodded.

"What have I gotten myself into?" Daffy bemoaned, resting his hand over his eyes.

"W-w-what are you t-talking about, Daffy?" Porky said. "I-isn't this what y-y-you've been w-waiting for?"

"Elaborate, swine boy," Daffy asked. "You have piqued my interest."

"W-well, you w-w-wanted to be more popu-popu-popu, have more gawking admirers than Bugs," Porky answered. "I-I-I'm sure th-th-this is the p-perfect time."

"Hmm…" Daffy stroked his chin contemplatively, his eyes slightly glazing left and right. "Find the Link. Save the worlds. Make history. Make more than ten truckloads of money and gain the admiration of everyone in the universe? Butterball, I just may keep you." He grinned deviously, rubbing his hands together greedily as Porky rolled his eyes. "Oh, quit purring, Porky. It ain't cute."

"T-that wasn't Dot?" Porky asked, pointing his thumb backwards at the female Warner.

"Oh, like I'd purr for either of you," Dot sniffed, indignant.

"W-w-wait. If it w-w-wasn't any of u-us. Then who…" Porky took a large gulp as sweat poured like rain down his skull. He slowly turned his head, his neck creaking like an aged door, and came face-to-face to a ravenous Velasoulraptor with two glaring eyes and a slightly drooling mouth. "O-o-oh bother."

Yelping, Porky was pulled backwards by the scruff of his jacket by Yakko and Wakko just as the Soulful attempted to crunch into its potentially tasty meal. "Are these the So-so-so-Soulfuls?" Porky asked, quickly drawing from behind his back a gray-scale shield with a silhouetted rabbit head on its outer side and a series of spikes jutting around its side.

"What was your first clue?" Dot deadpanned.

"What are we waiting for, men?" Daffy shouted, whipping out two strangely green-glowing nunchaku and twirling them masterfully. "Let's show them what happens when they mess with us!"

"**YAAAAAAA-HOO****-HOO-HOO-HOOEY!**" Daffy and Porky hollered a trademarked cry that didn't belong to them whatsoever as the Velasoulraptor simply whipped its tail and sent them flying across the air flying. Yakko, Wakko and Dot were clever enough to simply duck.

"Goofy?" Rika sniffed, wiping away her tears as she looked into the air. "What the hell?!"

_CRASH!_

"Ugh…" Rika, Daffy and Porky moaned agonizingly as the two Looney Tunes lied on Rika in a dog pile, all three having either stars, birds, or (in Rika's case) a little toy train rolling around their heads.

Daffy and Porky shook their heads to regain their consciousnesses. It was an absolute necessity to be able to survive most falls when your job was being a cartoon character. Daffy's eyes lolled around until their sight landed on Rika's Keyblade. "It's her!" he exclaimed happily. "Wow, this was easier than I thought."

He spoke too soon. The three felt a small tremor shivering below them, which quickly grew to a massive one. "Why do I have a strange feeling of déjà vu?" Rika gulped. Impenetrable walls sprang from the ground all around them like daisies, trapping them within. And just to make things worse, a herd of Velasoulraptors emerged from the walls as if they were merely water. Purring and snapping their jaws threateningly, the Soulfuls slowly advanced on the trio as they stood back to back with the weapons held up high.

"You guys know how to fight?" Rika asked, staring down her enemies.

"You kidding, Key-Girl?" Daffy laughed arrogantly, twirling his nunchaku again. "I'm a master of the martial art Quack-Fu!"

"I-I-I thought t-that was Howard the Duck?" Porky said monotonously.

"He stole it from me!" Daffy snapped. "It's just that we're still investigating it."

The Velasoulraptors charged at the group. Rika, remembering her last encounter with one, hopped over one of them and used its back as a footstool. The Velasoulraptor looked up, but fell over backwards as it tried look where she jumped to. "Ain't so tough now, huh?" she laughed, stabbing her Keyblade right into where the Velasoulraptor's heart was supposed to be. The Soulful shrieked as silvery blood squirted out of its wound, finally dissipating into nothingness.

"Now, now, boys. Can't we ta-ta-ta, converse this over like gentlemen?" Porky asked as he was surrounded by three Soulfuls, only to receive three roars as a response. "W-w-well, I warned y-you." One charged right into Porky headfirst, ramming into the pig's shield. But Porky dug his hooves into the ground and held his footing. He shoved his shield upward, along with the Velasoulraptor's head, and quickly slashed its throat with one of his shield's spikes. The Velasoulraptor cried, withering on the ground before Porky. But before he could get a moment to breathe, the other two Velasoulraptor's tackled Porky to the ground. Porky grunted in pain, trying to reach out and grab his dropped weapon. But one Velasoulraptor stomped on his arm, pinning it and the rest of his body. Porky shut his eyes, waiting for the inevitability. The Velasoulraptor opened its mouth wide as its jaws were about to gnaw into Porky's soul, but a Fire spell quickly interrupted that as it collided with the Soulful's head and knocked it off Porky.

Porky opened his eyes and smiled appreciatively to his savior Daffy. "Jeez, and I can't believe I lost to ya in _Robin Hood Daffy_," Daffy frowned. His eyes darted up as two more Velasoulraptors leaped into the air over him. "Take this!" Daffy shouted as one of his green nunchaku changed to the color gray. He swiftly snapped it, activating a Magnet spell and trapping the two Soulfuls in a Swirling Vortex of Certain Doom (TM). "Oh, this really IS too easy," Daffy smirked as his other nunchaku changed into the color yellow. With a quick snap he called forth a powerful bolt of lightning down on the two desperately escaping Soulfuls and destroyed them.

"Whew." Rika's breath labored as the last of the Soulfuls were wiped out. "Man…that was close." She smiled and turned to Daffy and Porky. "You guys were great!"

"Th-th-th, much thanks!" Porky said, tipping his imaginary hat to her. "M-my name's Porky Pig."

"And I'M the Great Daffy Duck!" Daffy bellowed melodramatically, striking a theatrical pose as he held up a duck's skull. "Who might you be?" he asked, tossing his skull away over his shoulder.

"Heh, heh," Rika giggled. "My name's Rika Itonami." Unfortunately, the friends couldn't get any more acquainted as they felt another tremor – more like an earthquake actually. They quickly assumed their battle positions once more, eyes shifting everywhere as they searched for another enemy. But they should have been really looking up – as colossal Soulful dropped in front of them, the shockwaves from the landing knocking the trio down on their bottoms. The Soulful resembled the much smaller Velasoulraptors but with shorter arms and (naturally) its incredible size – much like a Tyrannosaurus Rex: a Soul-Rex.

"Great," Daffy bemoaned. "A T-Rex. It's Jurassic Park all over again."

The Soul-Rex roared mightily at the group and its head lunged forward to make them his lunch. They all leaped out of its way, and Daffy quickly casted several Thunder spells at it but it had no apparent damage – although it did make it angry. The Soul-Rex turned to Daffy and growled as its black eyes narrowed. "_Mother,_" he squeaked. Good thing Daffy made friends with Rika as she quickly pushed him out of the way before the Soulful made him a dead duck.

"P-p-pick on s-someone your own size!" Porky shouted as he slashed his shield into the Soul-Rex's right leg and drawing blood. Screaming in pain, the Soulful's head turned to Porky, almost as if it was telling him that he had got to be kidding. "Heh, heh," Porky smiled a huge grin that complete stretched from the opposite ends of his face as his leg stretched off-screen and ran off, leaving a smoke figure in the shape of him behind.

Rika attempted to pull the same trick she tried back at her island home by simply charging forward for the Soulful's neck, but it quickly swung its tail into her midsection and slammed her into the other two. "Argh…" she winced. "Well, I don't suppose you two have any ideas?"

"I have one!" Daffy said brightly. He dropped to his knees before the Soul-Rex, hands clamped together for a prayer. "PLEASE DON'T EAT ME!" he bawled, eyes shut tight as two streams of tears shot out of his eyes.

The Soul-Rex was so disgusted by Daffy's pathetic actions that it didn't realize that Rika was climbing up its side. But once it did, the Soul-Rex started thrashing about to buck off Rika. "S-s-special delivery!" Porky shouted, flinging his shield like a flying disc (or a chakram for you hardcore fans) at and stabbed right into the Soulful's chest, ceasing its bucking as its pain preoccupied it.

"Thanks for the distraction, Daffy!" Rika called, standing atop the Soul-Rex's head.

"Um…distraction, right!" Daffy nodded unconvincingly. "A distraction was EXACTLY what I was trying to do! And I WASN'T going to sell you guys out to save my hide! No sir!"

Rika rolled her eyes, but smiled all the same. "PORKY!" she shouted.

"RIKA!" Porky also yelled.

"SLAUTERHOUSE!" they both shouted at the top of their lungs. Porky jumped onto the Soul-Rex, grabbed his shield still sticking out of the beast's chest and climbed downward while dragging his shield through the Soulful's torso, ripping it apart. All the while Rika started spinning Stardom Key liked a helicopter propeller and ran down the Soul-Rex's back, slashing its back half to pieces. When they both reach the ground and doing massive damage to the Soul-Rex, Rika and Porky happily clapped hands.

The Soul-Rex, taking on far too many injuries, was barely able to stand. Rika, Daffy and Porky stared as it attempted to take a single step toward them, but even that was too much as it gave a low growl and collapsed. Before it could even hit the ground, the Soul-Rex finally disappeared from existence – also releasing a silvery orb that Rika recognized from her island, which assumed must have been a soul. The little soul floated down to the trio and started zipping around them, almost as if it was thanking them. Finally, it grew with an incredible bright light and zoomed up and out of this world and to a world where it belonged.

"Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo!" Daffy cheered.

_**TT-TT-TT**_

"So, you were looking for me?" Rika asked Daffy and Porky, after everything settled down and No Limit and his team managed to find them after the action.

"Ye-ye-ye, that is correct," Porky nodded.

"They were sent by another leader of a world to aid you in your quest," Wolf explained. "To top it off, they're also from another universe."

"Really?" Rika said, looking to Daffy and Porky.

"That's right, girly," Daffy nodded, crossing his arms. "We came a long way and we ain't leaving without ya!"

"Mighty bold of ya considering you only want to piggyback off her to make myself a huge celebrity," Dot said.

"Isn't that what the Nostalgia Critic did?" Yakko smirked deviously.

"Oh, I LOVE the Nostalgia Critic!" Wakko said, smiling lovingly with his tongue sticking out.

"I'm sorry for all the trouble you went through, guys," Rika said, smiling faintly. "But I'm afraid you came here for nothing."

"What?!" Daffy and Porky exclaimed.

Her smile dropped, her left hand over her heart. "I'm of no use to anyone." She held up her Keyblade. "I may hold a Keyblade, it may have chosen me, but I can't possibly do what you're asking me to do. I could even save my own world." She closed her eyes as she felt another cry coming. "_I couldn't even save my friend._" Rika resisted the urge and opened her eyes again, but kept her head low. "I'm sorry. But I'm useless to anyone."

"So what?" Rika raised her head to Daffy. "You failed one time? Big friggin' whoop."

"D-Daffy!" Porky gasped. "D-d-don't be s-so insensitive!"

"I'm not," Daffy said, crossing his arms once again and an annoyed glowering in his eyes. "I know what it's like to have failed time and time again. I know what it's like to think that you're unable to do something. And I even know what it's like to screw up majorly. But you know what, kid? I _never_ gave up. Call me ignorant or stubborn; I'll just say I'm feisty." He smirked, wiggling his eyebrows up and down. "Stop wallowing in self-pity. It's disgusting and pathetic."

"So says the duck who was weeping to his enemy not to kill him just moments ago," Yakko whispered to Team Limit.

"I never allowed anything to stop me from what I want and what I had to do," Daffy continued unabated. "And I'm not letting you get in my way now. So shape up!"

Rika, after getting through the fact that a barn animal was lecturing her, took in his words. "What am I doing?" she whispered. She took a deep breath and exhaled. "Well, it looks like I got some world-unifying to do!" she grinned widely.

"That's more like it!" Daffy smiled a little.

"W-w-welcome to the family, Rika," Porky said kindly.

"Special friend!" Yakko, Wakko and Dot exclaimed blissfully, jumping into Rika's arms and hugging her.

"Hmm," Wolf smiled to see all those friends together. "It seems that they have a huge journey ahead of them."

"There's one more thing I have got to tell you, Rika," No Limit said. "When you travel to the other worlds, you have to find the world's heart or, in other words, the world's Keyhole. You have to find it and lock it from the Heartless and Soulfuls, but that isn't all. You must also create a link with the Keyhole. That is how you are going to link the worlds together again. It's just like locking so don't worry on how to do that. I suggest you head for Radiant Garden first. Best to get with familiar territory first before you head into the unknown."

"Okay," Rika nodded. "Got it."

"Well, what are you wait for?!" Time Zone shouted frantically. "Get going already! Time's-a-wasting!"

"Heh, heh," Rika laughed. "Okay! Okay!"

"Follow me." Daffy waved for Rika to follow. "I'll take you to our ship."

"The Studio's ship," Wakko corrected.

"Like I said, my ship."


	6. Clothes Make the Hero

_I'm sure many of you are familiar with laredo tornado's _Keyblade War_ story? If you aren't, check it out! It's brilliant! And if you liked THAT, you'll LOVE the book he wrote now on sale through the link in his profile! Enough shameless plugs, the reason I brought this up was because I am, indeed, using some of his character elements in my story. But, as you can tell already, I'm using a seriously different plot. It's just that he had some pretty sweet ideas and I wasn't so familiar with them before. Now I am. And I REALLY like _LOST_ and _Kill Bill_. Besides, he and I are old pals, lol. Well, enough blather. Enjoy the chapter._

_**Chapter 5 – Clothes Make the Hero**_

"It seems we've got a new enemy on our hands," the Asian man in dark armor called Chase Young said interestedly. He watched Rika acquaint herself with her new friends, Daffy and Porky, the three of them completely oblivious to the fact they were being watched.

"Do you ever just get the feeling you're being watched?" Daffy promptly declared.

They appeared on an enormous screen, one of many linked to the different worlds and universes, each one showing a different scene unfolding at that very moment. Right now, it was upon Rika he focused on. "An unforeseen event, but not an unfortunate one. This can be turned to our advantage…."

"What are you talking about, Chase?!" the young techno-savvy teen with red hair Jack Spicer snapped. "That chick only _just_ made it past the Soulfuls!"

"Bah!" the tiny Irken Invader Zim sneered disdainfully. "As if a filthy human _pig_ like you can match wits with those de-evolved beasts – let alone the mighty _moose_…."

"I like moose!" the barely functioning SIR unit robot drone GIR exclaimed idiotically.

"The girl is indeed inexperienced and ill prepared, but her potential is incredible," the unknown man in the white robe said, preferring to remain hidden in the shadows; his voice calm, collected, analytical – and terribly pitiless. "If she would turn to our side, she could become a powerful solider among our ranks. A Keyblade alone make her a force to be reckoned with, but her true power lies in her connection to the worlds. She would make a fine ally indeed."

"A strategy I am not entirely adverse to, Reaper," Chase Young replied. "But _can_ she be turned?"

"Any soul can be corrupted in one way or another," the demon Blackheart informed him in an unsettling voice that would send chills those without strong wills – namely Jack and Zim. "All that remains is to find out exactly what it is…and exploit it."

"An idea I'm not at all reluctant to utilize," he declared triumphantly. He, Jack, Zim, GIR, Blackheart and the man in white stepped out of the monitoring room and into a large conference hall with a monk motif going, a circular table positioned in the middle under a ring of lit candles in a chandelier shining down in such a way as to cast ominous shadows upon the room's occupants – most likely done purposely. "Already my plans are moving into its final phases. Where Maleficent and the Organization have failed, _we_ shall succeed. Our numbers are greater, our powers stronger, our plans more sharply defined. We have learned from the mistakes others have made and shall utilize them to our benefit. Each of you has joined me in this endeavor, seeing the potential for power and a chance to rule over your respective worlds for all time without opposition. Now I know we will not fail."

"As High Captain of the Seven Seas," the tentacle-faced Davy Jones remarked, lighting his barnacle-encrusted pipe and smoking it calmly, "my ship is at your disposal, Heylin Warrior." He extinguished the match with a puff from one of his many blowholes surrounding his slimy, slithery beard of twitching tendrils.

"All right!" the maliciously sadistic NegaDuck boomed, cackling wildly with a deranged glint behind his masked eyes. "And lemme tell ya there's no escaping the unbelievable power of the Fearsome Five!"

"I have waited many years for this chance at revenge," the mighty sorcerer Mozenrath growled with his right gloved hand clenched into a fist as it glowed foreboding dark magic. "I have gained unsurpassable amount of magical energy and knowledge and am ready and willing to use it for this chance. You can count on me."

"My mighty Fire Nation soldiers are poised and ready for a battle at a moment's notice," the powerful leader Fire Lord Ozai added with a sinister smile, sitting proudly on the seat he held. "Nothing can withstand our Firebending or war weapons."

"My Deadly Viper Assassination Squad can bypass _any_ defense," the enigmatic warrior known only simply as Bill assured Chase Young. Across his lap lied a long, curved sword, one he could draw it in a flash and use it without a moment's delay to bring any opponent to their knees. "Name the target and considered it eliminated."

"The Toon Town Patrol and my Dip are just _itching_ to wipe away any unsavory Toons that'll get in our way," the sinister Judge Doom informed, clutching his walking stick tightly with his black leather gloves.

"I believe my people have unlocked the long lost secrets of our Island after this time," the small, unassuming Benjamin Linus added, wiping off his glasses, his eyes large and bug-like, almost always open to observe those around him. "Already events have occurred which could prove very…appealing for us. Not much longer and the heart of the Island shall be revealed for us to exploit."

"And you have don't worry about a thing with me around, Chase!" the ultimate weapons master Syndrome added pompously, sticking his feet up on the table and throwing his hands behind his head comfortably. "Once your cronies have been equipped with my super technology, nothing, not even a Keyblade, will stop them! You can bet your Shen Gong Wu on that!"

"I'd sooner bet on Spicer realizing that Zim is experimenting on him," he sneered scornfully. Syndrome frowned and waved his hand dismissively.

"Zim's been experimenting on me?!" Jack angrily glared at Zim, who was holding a bizarre device in his hands that was scanning him. Zim quickly hid the contraption, smiling innocently.

"Soon, once everything falls into place, everything shall be ours," Chase declared, throwing his arms out gallantly as he stood at the head of the table. "And Kingdom Hearts shall be ours!"

"But how the heck are you planning on doing that?" NegaDuck asked. "From what I heard back at St. Canard, Kingdom Hearts has been locked up tight by the Rat King and his key wielding flunkie?"

"And what about these Soulfuls?" Bill added skeptically, placing his hand on his chin. "They may prove a threat to our plans."

"I don't know about you guys, but I don't exactly like the idea of being nonexistent!" Syndrome said with a twinge of anxiety cracking in his voice.

"The Soulful are indeed a powerful enemy," Chase agreed, taking his seat and rested his chin on his right fist, and then smirked. "But we'll leave them be."

"What is it that you have in mind?" Doom inquired curiously.

"From what I can gather, no one seems to know of our group's existence yet," he explained. "And I intend on keeping it that way. Why soil our hands when we can have others take care of it for us?"

"You're planning on having the Link to bring down the Purifiers and their Soulfuls," Ozai stated, catching on to what Chase was saying.

"Exactly," he nodded.

"There are other factors to consider," Blackheart added, seating himself at his left hand, the man in white seated at his right. "King Mickey and his fellow Keyblade wielders have disappeared to parts unknown, but you can be sure they're up to something. It would be in our best interests to discover their locations as soon as possible and stop them before things get out of hand."

"Why do think you think he had I set up monitors depicting each and every currently known world?" Ben said in cold monotone, unfeeling even as Blackheart fiercely glared at the little man.

"I wish to be more informed of this plan of yours," Davy Jones said inquisitively to Chase. "In my long existence, I've learned that you'd better understand what you've gotten yourself into before signing your name, for it might be in blood."

"Or _ink_, in his case," Jack Spicer snickered to Zim, not noticing that Jones' claw arm was reaching for him. He gagged as it fastened itself around his throat. "_Ack, I'm sorry…_" he wheezed, gasping for breath as the Lord of the Seas released him.

"I promise you, Jones, that you will not regret anything once you have joined this association," Chase assured him. "By this time in a year, you shall each be lord of your dominion. And nothing shall stand in our way!" They all nodded in agreement.

"Let's go get some tacos!" GIR shrieked, running around the conference hall wildly as he left behind a splattering trail of oil everywhere.

_**TT-TT-TT**_

"So, where exactly are we going?" Daffy asked as he, Rika and Porky walked down the streets of Traverse Town, the Warners choosing to hang back at their ship – Porky looked a bit uneasy.

"I'm not entirely sure," Rika said, holding a little business card that had a miniscule map that was nearly impossible to read without a magnifying glass – which she was using. "But you heard what No Limit said, we've got to get some new clothes before we head to Radiant Garden."

"D-d-didn't he s-s-say w-we should hur-hur-hur, we'd best be in a rush?" Porky asked.

"I dunno. He says a lot of things," Rika shrugged helplessly.

"And like _I_ need new threads," Daffy scoffed, pulling a full body mirror from nowhere and pausing to admire himself. "I'm already too sexy for a shirt!"

"Hey, how is it that you guys are able to do that of things, pulling stuff out of hammerspace and being able to get flung from a building and not get hurt?" Rika stated, crossing her arms confusedly. "You two can really pull off some really nutty stuff."

"I-it's simple, R-Rika," Porky smiled sensibly. "We-we-we're Looney Tunes."

"And, as such, are exclusive property and _trademarks_," Daffy explained as he got close to Rika's face, splattering spittle all over it, "of Warner Bros. Inc!" Daffy held up his bottom, revealing a flimsy paper logo of a shield with the letters WB on it and then kissing it lovingly like a child to its mother.

Rika slightly retched at the duck kissing his own lower backside. "I see. So you guys are in cartoons?"

Daffy balked at her in disbelief. "Don't you kids watch film strips anymore?" he snapped, waving his right hand irately.

"I prefer watching some more serious things, like _Desperate Housewives_ or _Days of our Lives_," Rika said as she laughed uncomfortably.

Daffy sighed defeatedly. "Of course, teenaged girls don't give two-wits for our comedic _genius_," he said, puffing out his chest proudly and placing a hand over his heart.

"I-I-I don't know a-a-about you…" Porky muttered to himself, earning a stern glower from Daffy. Rika giggled.

_Our new friends are certainly an _animated _bunch. Haha!_

Rika's giggling ceased immediately and she replaced it with a pout.

_What? You're ignoring me now?_

"I'm only going to use you to finish my job," Rika whispered quietly, not wanting Daffy or Porky to think she's crazy for talking to herself. "And I'm NOT doing this because of you; I'm doing it because I care about my friends."

_Is it because I was such a hard ass before about your destiny?_

Rika didn't respond.

_All right, FINE! Have it your way. Two can play the cold shoulder game!_

She sighed sadly, feeling a twinge of guilt; she never was any good at holding a grudge. "R-R-Rika?" Porky called from a strange wrestling position he was in with Daffy. "Are y-you all right?"

"Yeah," she answered distantly, but pulled on a faux smile for them. "I'm fine. Just feeling a little tired."

"I'd imagine, we just got out of a scrap with a T-Rex hungry for pork," Daffy said, hopping back on his feet and dusting away dirt on his feathers as Porky frowned disapprovingly. "Let's just hurry up and get to the, oh, look, we're here."

They found the building, a massive three story tall mansion surrounded by a cast iron fence. A monitor was built into the side of the gate brickwork and Rika pressed the large red button. The monitor flickered on. "Excuse me, but is this the residence of-"

"Edna Mode, yes?" A pair of huge, horn-rimmed spectacles filled the television screen, peering down on Rika and company curiously, as if they were very interesting bugs that one would find in their backyard. "Who ez it, dahling? I am a very, very, very busy woman."

"Hi! Um, my name is Rika. The duck is Daffy, and the pig is called Porky."

"You aren't joking," Edna Mode murmured to herself.

"Yeah, our friend No Limit sent us to get some new clothes," Rika finished.

"Something tells me we're going to be introducing ourselves over and over again until it gets to the point it's kind of ridiculous how many times we do it," Daffy declared.

"Ah, yes, No Limit," Edna sneered contemptuously. "Yes, I am acquainted with him. And I remember it all so well. Bah! I spit in his general direction! PT-WEE!" She spat in a random direction, earning awkward looks exchanged between the three. "But it is all ze past now, dahling. You have no need to fear any vengeance from me." She grinned at them. "Please, please come into my humble abode…." The cast iron gates opened for them automatically, a long, low grinding noise sending shivers down their spines.

"I h-h-have a b-bad feeling about t-this," Porky muttered.

"Make that order out for two," Rika gulped.

"What's to worry about?" Daffy said dismissively. "She's just a little eccentric. I'm sure once get inside we'll be greeted with a wide and warm open fireplace with various portraits painted by the finest of artists, a comforting atmosphere with delicious homemade gingerbread men baking in a toaster oven, all done by a gentle granny-like entrepreneur." They walked through the gate towards the front door and he knocked on it confidently – only for the ground to open up beneath their feet.

"Of course, I might be WROOOOoooooong…" Daffy yelled as they tumbled down a steep, slippery slide into the darkness below.

They landed on a bunch of mats, Porky landed first, then Rika, and finally Daffy crushing the two of them. They were trapped in a dark room, surrounded by dozens of mannequins draped in superhero costumes from across the universe. A giant screen television flickered on and Edna Mode's huge head loomed over them. "So! No Limit sent you, eh? Where were you the night of July 18th?"

"I was watching our film company's latest blockbuster movie, _The Dark Knight_," Daffy moaned, shielding his eyes from the spotlight that flared down on them.

"I swear, I'm just here for new clothes!" Rika yelled. "Can you help us out or not?"

"New clothes, new clothes," she repeated to herself, tapping her fingers together mysteriously. "Very well. Let us assume for ze moment you are telling ze truth. What will you give me in exchange for ze new clothes, dahling?"

"Uh, well, I dunno," Rika coughed. "I don't have any munny."

"And a-a-all I have are a f-f-few dollars that I l-l-left in my other pants!" Porky groaned.

"You don't wear pants, butterball!" Daffy pointed out.

"N-n-neither do you."

"Touché, my strong-minded teammate," he said.

"WHAT!" Edna snapped. She vanished from the gigantic monitor and, a moment later, appeared in a doorway that slid open. She trotted up to them, surprising them at her diminutive stature, quite a shock after seeing her larger than life up until now. "An insult! I am shocked! Appalled! You expect to come barging in here, demanding a brand new, stunning, one-of-a-kind Edna Mode masterpiece and you have the audacity to say you have no money! I am…I am actually intrigued by this startling turn of events. You have some guts, dahling!" She reached up and pinched Rika's cheek, making her smile and wince helplessly – and painfully.

"So s-she is the granny-t-type," Porky mused, shrugging. "Who knew?"

"Come, come, dahling, no need to be shy," Edna crooned, her tiny little legs propelling her with surprising rapidness out of the basement and up the stairs to a hallway. "So, you've just come for clothes?"

"Er, yeah, NL told me-"

"PFT!" Edna scoffed loudly, prompting Rika to stop mid-sentence. "You can just stop right there. I do not make clothes. I create _art!_ With my bare hands I have designed works worn by ze greatest of heroes, all of whom became heroes known throughout all ze known universe – in style!" Rika, Daffy and Porky could only gape in awe from Edna's statement. "All for a reasonable price, of course," she smiled subtly.

"How's about you make me something, too?" Daffy suggested excitedly.

"All in good time, my boy," she assured him. She trotted up to a doorway that had no doorknob and no way in. Edna punched in a long string of digits rapidly into a keypad. It then slid down to reveal a palm scanner and she placed her hand on it. Then it turned into a retina scan, zapping her eyes and leading to a microphone popping out of the wall. "Edna Mode," she said in a clear voice. Immediately, red lights flashed and klaxons blared as thirty laser guns came out of the walls, floor and ceiling, pointing right at the trio who jumped together in fright. "Oh, yes, and guests." The guns withdrew back into their sockets and the alarms shut off. The three sighed in relief.

The door slid upward a la _USS Enterprise_ to reveal into a mammoth workshop. They goggled at the enormous sewing machine and the diagrams detailing how to create unique superhero costumes ranging from flamers to icers and beyond. "Now, let us take a look at what you're currently wearing." Edna started circling Rika, eying her from head-to-toe, taking in all her features and measurements. She clicked her tongue critically. "Oh, this is a garbage outfit, dahling. You can't be seen in this. I won't allow it! Fifteen years ago, maybe, but now? Pft! You need a new outfit, that much is certain."

"I thought it looked nice…" Rika muttered objectively, but soon regretted it as Edna squeezed both sides of her face with her own left hand.

"Trust me, dahling," she said. "After you see your new one you won't be even able to _stand_ to look at this poor excuse for clothing you have drabbed over you at the moment." Rika nodded quickly and she released her. Edna pulled from under a desk a clear sketchpad swiftly and clicked a pen, getting to work immediately. "It will be bold. Dramatic!"

"Yeah…" Rika smiled, starting to picture of her idea of her new clothes.

"Powerful!"

"Yeah…"

"Heroic!"

"Yeah!" she nodded. "Maybe something really cool with a cape…"

"No capes!" Edna snapped severely, slapping Rika's head with the sketchpad and returning to work.

"Aw, why not?" Rika pouted. "I mean, isn't it my decision?"

Edna's horn-rimmed glasses slowly peaked over the top of the pad with glowering eyes. "Have you ever heard of Thunderhead? Nice man, good with kids. November 15th of '58! All was well, stopped the villain, saved the day – when his cape got snagged on a missile fin!"

"Well, that was just one time…"

"Stratogale!" Edna continued, unabated. "April 23rd, '57. Cape caught in a jet turbine!"

"But you can't really blame…"

"Meta-Man, lifting an express elevator and his cape got caught on a loose nail! You can only IMAGINE what happened when ze elevator came back down. Dyna-Guy, snagged his cape on a fire hydrant! Neck snapped in three places. Splashdown, sucked into a vortex! His body was never found. And No Limit! His cape got onto ze downtown express and got dragged all around! He survived, but refuses to take any modes of public transportation since then."

"W-w-wait a minute, YOU de-de-designed No Limit's c-costume?" Porky asked.

"Yes," Edna frowned irritably. "Even after that life-threatening moment, he absolutely insisted on wearing that jacket of his even though it's essentially another cape. Bah! I refuse to speak of him any more! My point? NO CAPES!" she shrieked, waving her finger in Rika's face.

"Okay, Edna," Rika said, nodding her head pathetically.

"Oh, buck up, dahling," she said dismissively and then grinned widely. "Aha! It is done! Simple, elegant, yet resolute."

"Think I could have a look…?" Rika tried to peep on the drawing, but Edna snatched it away and trotted toward a large machine that had various bobs and bits for sewing, such as bobbins and yarn. She feed the paper into it. The machine came to life, lights blinking, steam billowing and revolving gears. The trio ogled at it in wonder as the machine continued doing its job of whatever it was doing. Finally, the sounds of the machine slowly died down with a groan as the lights, steam and gears ceased. They all gaped at the unmoving machine.

"Er," Daffy coughed.

_Ding!_

With the lighting of a tiny bulb, out popped an outfit on a mannequin similar to Rika's current one, but it just seemed to glow of light. A simple white t-shirt with blue short sleeves and a hood, a pair of black fingerless-gloves with straps to tighten or loosen, and a black belt pack worn backwards. And a little blue ribbon for her hair completed the ensemble. "Wow," Rika whispered. "This is mine?"

"You'll be traveling in style, dahling," Edna assured her. "Care for a demonstration?"

"Er, what do you mean?" she asked.

"Come. Sit with me." Edna waved for them to follow as she sat down a little seat of four next to a table on a platform in front a large glass pane to an empty room. Rika looked to Daffy and Porky and shrugged along with them, each wedging themselves into the uncomfortably miniature chairs. Suddenly, the platform began sliding slowly to the right along the glass window and Rika's new outfit tracked along on the opposite on a moving clothesline. "I started with comfort," she began.

"Started?" Daffy asked.

"Shh!" she shushed him. "I cut it a little roomy for the free movement. The fabric is comfortable for sensitive skin…"

"C-c-couldn't have d-d-done that for th-th-these chairs, huh?" Porky deadpanned. Then humongous flames exploded from underneath Rika's new clothes, catching the porky pig off guard. "Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, my…" Porky's eyes rolled to back the back of his head from the shock.

"Can withstand temperatures up to one-thousand degrees," Edna continued offhandedly. "Completely bulletproof." Rika, Daffy and Porky threw their hands over their ears to protect them from the deafening bullets shot from four machine guns extended from the ground at the clothes. "And machine washable, dahling. That's a new feature."

"Oh, if only I had one of those when it was duck season," Daffy mused memorably.

"Virtually indestructible," Edna added as two large missiles lowered from the ceiling fired up and launched themselves at the outfit, shaking the very foundation of the building as Rika, Daffy and Porky hugged each other tightly, "yet breathes likes Egyptian cotton…"

"What the hell do you think I'll be doing?!" Rika yelled.

"Well, I couldn't possibly know, dahling," she responded, holding up a teacup as she stirred sugar into some coffee. "It wouldn't hurt to be prepared, would it? I covered ze basics. Cappuccino?" she offered, holding the cup toward Rika.

"No thanks," Rika mumbled, pursuing her lips and blowing through them derisively.

"Ah, but I haven't even reached ze best feature," Edna said, sipping from the cup. "I believe you're familiar with ze Drive Forms?"

"Oh, yeah!" she nodded excitedly. "That's when my old man and his partners combined abilities to form incredible powers!"

"Precisely," Edna said. "But, alas, this only has one as of now. I'm afraid you'll have to find others on your own. Well, dahling, what do you think?" She smiled conceitedly, knowing full-well what the answer will be.

"I love it," Rika stated, her first true smile in a while.

"Okay, she's done!" Daffy shoved her out of his way, hopping around eagerly like a six-year-old boy finding his little red bicycle at the bottom of the Christmas tree. "What about me, huh? Huh? Huh?"

"Oh, yes, ze farm animals," Edna pondered, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "You two do present a challenge, but you're in need of a drastic makeover. Especially the duck. He ez…just naked! I'll gladly take that challenge!" She pressed a button on the wall and two mechanical hands lowered out of the ceiling, grabbing Daffy and Porky forcefully that they gagged, and began swinging around so rapidly they were blurred.

"Whoa! Hey! W-w-watch the happy h-hands!" Porky yelped as they jumped out of the whirlwind of hands. Daffy now wore a cute little blue sailor suit while Porky wore a pair of baggy pants, a black vest, a yellow turtleneck sweater, floppy shoes and an odd hat atop his head. "Uh, no-no-no offense, ma-ma-madam, but I th-th-think we need some-some-some other c-clothes."

"Yeah, we'll be sued in a minute!" Daffy added, ripping off his new clothes. Porky also stripped his suit to reveal his old clothes still underneath.

"Hmm…." Edna smirked. "All right. I've _got it_." With another push of a button on the wall, the two mechanical hands set their grips around Daffy and Porky again.

"Mother, here we go again!" Daffy wheezed. After some quick handiwork (pun most DEFINETLY intended), the hands retracted and left the two spinning until a quick stop. Daffy now wore a red vest with an open zipper on front, a white belt around his waist with two holsters each carrying his glowing green nunchaku and a blue beret atop his head. And Porky wore a green jacket with also an open zipper. The jacket had a buckle at the bottom strapped around the waist with a white emblem of a rabbit's head on the back. And a small black fez rested on top of his head.

"Oh, not bad, not bad…" Daffy stated, moving his waist around to examine his new outfit.

Porky adjusted the buckle a bit and smiled. "I-i-it is pretty nic-nic-nic, quite fashionable indeed."

Edna blew a kiss. "Do you expect anything less, dahlings? By the way, as an extra feature, each of these incredibly smart ensembles comes equipped with a homing device," she explained, handing each of them a little white device with a screen and a button with heart insignia crested on the back, "giving you the precise location of the wearer at the touch of a button. Unfortunately, its range ez only restricted to within a world, not universal."

Rika took the device and held it tightly. "Edna, I don't know how we could ever repay you…."

"Nonsense, dahling!" She waved it frivolously. "I give you these out of the kindness of my heart." She coughed, "And twenty-five percent of your earnings as you go. So! Shall I show you the door?"

Shortly, the trio emerged from Edna's home, albeit this time through her front door. "G-g-golly, Rika, you lo-lo-look li-li-like a true her-her-hero," Porky declared proudly.

"I sort of almost feel heroic, too," Rika admitted, holding her arms up and admiring her new threads. "Like I'm a brave adventurer or something like that." She sighed. "But I have got to tell you guys something, I'm still a little nervous about doing this. I mean, there are so many people counting on me and there are so many worlds. And I'm just…well, useless."

"You su-su-sure like that w-w-ord, huh?" Porky said. "You're n-n-not useless, R-Rika. Be-be-believe me, I-I-I'm j-j-just an ordinary pi-pi-pi, an everyman. I-I don't k-know that much and I'm not to-to-too sure I can do-do-do anything. B-but, I sti-sti-still do whatever I-I-I can d-do. And that's what e-e-everyone do-do-does: Whatever th-th-they can do. H-h-heck, and you ev-ev-even have u-u-us to help y-y-you out every st-st-step of the way."

"So, relax!" Daffy chuckled, slapping her back. "Me and Porky, we gotcha covered! One for all and all for one and all that. After all, what are friends for?" Rika smiled as they marched down the street for the Gummi ship hanger – together.

_**End of Chapter 5**_


	7. Magic Mushrooms

_**Chapter 6 – Magic Mushrooms**_

The good mushroom-like Toad people of the Mushroom Kingdom happily went about their daily routines in their beloved town, Toad Town. And standing proudly in the town's utmost region was the prestigious Mushroom Castle, home to the Mushroom Kingdom's much loved ruler Princess Peach Toadstool, a grand and bright castle with a tower bearing red flags at its four corners with one last tower in the center. And in that tower bore a beautiful stain glassed window of their beloved princess.

"Golly, it sure is a beautiful day today!" one Toad declared cheerfully, carrying a little wicker basket full of food. Like any other Toad, this fellow was stout and cute with a happy smile on his face. He wore a blue vest with yellow lining, large brown shoes and a white piece of clothing for pants. And on his head was a white mushroom cap with red spots over it. This Toad's name just so happened to be Toad; but, more importantly, he was one of Princess Peach's most loyal friends and companions. Unfortunately, lately, Toad has been taking the backseat in most of the various escapades that this Kingdom regularly received. But that didn't bring him down one bit.

"Yoshi! Yoshi!" the green dinosaur-like creature named Yoshi chirped in agreement. It had a large nose, a row of red spines along his back, and a long sticky tongue currently retracted in its mouth. This dinosaur wore orange boots and a saddle upon its back for others to use. "Yoshi thinks it's a good day for snacks!" Yoshi eyed the basket of food in Toad's basket hungrily.

"No, Yoshi!" Toad cried out, pushing Yoshi's snout away. "Down, boy! Down!"

"Oh, I have-a bad feeling…" the underappreciated Luigi stated fretfully. Luigi was slim and tall, and his face thin and chinless. And he had a smoothed black mustache, brown hair and light blue eyes. He wore dark blue denim jean overalls, brown work shoes, and a green long-sleeved shirt. And, most notably, he wore a green cap with an "L" in a white circle on the front – why green? Well, it's the negative color of red and red was a certain someone's favorite color. "I-a can feel it in-a my shoes."

"What do you mean, Luigi?" Toad asked, climbing atop Yoshi's back on his saddle.

"There's-a something coming," Luigi replied distantly, "something bringing trouble!"

"Oh, it's just your imagination acting up," Toad said, rolling his eyes.

"Yoshi! Look!" Yoshi yelled, pointing up into the sky. "It's a falling star! Let's make a wish!" Yoshi tightly closed his eyes and muttered to himself, "Wishing for some melons, wishing for some melons, wishing for some melons!"

Toad squinted his eyes, putting his right hand over his eyes to block out the sun to get a better look at this so-called 'falling star'. "Holy Super Mushrooms!" he gasped. "It's a KID!" The three Mushroom Kingdom denizens stared in disbelieve as the falling kid dropped straight out of the sky. They winced as the kid landed a short distance outside of Toad Town, creating a huge dust cloud that exploded upward and startling all the Toads. "Come on, guys!" Toad said, kicking Yoshi's sides. Yoshi dashed for the dust cloud, leaving Luigi behind.

He sighed despondently, "And I was-a wishing that I was wrong…."

Kuro moaned in pain, opening his eyes one at a time. Seeing that he had landed in the middle of a forest, Kuro shut his eyes again. "Okay, why aren't I in Traverse Town?" he groaned. He opened his eyes again. "Great. It wasn't just my imagination." He sighed. "Well, can't just waste my time lying here. I've got to-" Kuro's eyes shot wide open to the size of saucers. "I've got to find Rika!" Scrambling out of the massive crater he created, Kuro glanced around his surroundings. "Okay, Kuro, just find the residents of this world and hopefully they've got a spare Gummi lying around…." Kuro slapped his forehead. "Oh, yeah, like I'm going to be THAT lucky. And why am I talking to myself like Rika?" He slapped his forehead again – only harder. Unknown to him, Kuro was being watched.

"Why do I have the strange feeling that I'm being watched?" Kuro promptly said.

Luigi, Toad and Yoshi poked the top of their heads out from behind a tree to spy on the mysterious stranger. "Who's he?" Toad whispered.

"Oh, like I'm-a supposed to-a know THAT!" Luigi said, rolling his eyes. "Whoever he-a is, he was able to-a survive a freefall – without even a parachute! He might-a be working for Bowser!" He suddenly gulped. "Or maybe a monster. Or, even worse, a door-to-door salesman!"

"Luigi, you're crazy," Toad frowned disapprovingly.

"Okay, but we must-a approach with caution…."

"Hello, I'm Yoshi! Who are you?" Yoshi said to Kuro, shaking hands with the stranger.

Luigi slapped his hand over his face and dragged it down. "We're-a dead."

"I'm Kuro Higure," he answered, smiling awkwardly. Who wouldn't be slightly freaked out at meeting a dinosaur? "So who're your friends hiding behind the tree?"

"The cat's out of the bag," Toad said, stepping from the tree and to Kuro. "I'm Toad, pleased to meet ya!"

Luigi cautiously walked over to join with the other two, not taking his eyes off Kuro for a moment. "I-I-I'm-a L-Luigi," he said, teeth chattering.

Kuro asked out of the corner of his mouth, "What's his problem?"

"Oh, don't mind Luigi." Toad waved his hand dismissively. "Luigi's something of a coward and sort of afraid of you, which I don't get. If Yoshi likes you, I'm sure you're a trustworthy person! See?" Yoshi carefully circled around Kuro, taking the occasional sniff. Making his final judgment, Yoshi gave Kuro a large lick across the face.

"Heh, heh, thanks," Kuro chuckled, smirking. Luigi, on the other hand, had stopped his teeth chattering and began staring intently at the young man. He wasn't sure, but felt there was something strange about this guy; like he was giving off this strange aura.

Suddenly, a voice rang out, "There's the intruder!"

"What?" Kuro, Toad and Yoshi said in unison as they turned their heads to see a group of ten Toad soldiers running toward them. The soldiers shoved Toad and Yoshi away as they brandished their extremely pointy spear at Kuro, prompting him to throw his hands up.

"I swear I didn't do a thing!" he said, attempting to defend himself.

"There's no swearing in the Mushroom Kingdom!" one of the Toad soldier snapped, holding his spear closer.

"Wow, that must suck," he spouted out carelessly. The Toads gasped in horror. "Oh, crap, sorry!" They all gasped again. "Um…d'oh?" Kuro finally said, chuckling helplessly.

"You're under arrest!"

"Under what charges?!" Kuro demanded.

"For the disappearance of Mario!" all the Toad soldiers shouted together.

Toad, Luigi and Yoshi gasped. "Mario's missing?!" Yoshi exclaimed.

"My-a brother's gone?!" Luigi added.

"Brother?" Kuro repeated confusedly as his wrists were slapped with handcuffs.

"We're taking you to Princess Toadstool!" a Toad soldier said, prodding Kuro's back with his spear to make him move in the direction he wanted.

"With a name like Toadstool she must be one ugly old hag," Kuro muttered silently to himself.

_**MK-MK-MK**_

"Whoa, she's hot," Kuro whistled. Princess Peach was a beautiful sight, indeed. She was a blue-eyed, blond-haired woman. She wore a long pink dress with arm-length white gloves. Her dress had broad shoulders, a ruffled collar, and two dark pink panniers rested on the hoop skirt that accented her slender frame. The bottom of her dress had a dark pink border. Peach also wore a sapphire brooch set in gold. For her jewelry, she wore a crown decorated with rubies and sapphires along with sapphire earrings. She wore very little makeup – just hot pink lipstick applied to her full lips. Peach's head was heart-shaped and her eyes are luscious and oval. Around her eyes are several eyelashes and she has blond eyebrows. And her hair fell down her back and has several flips; she also had hair that fell close to her cheeks. And, unlike the Toads, was quite tall, even taller than Luigi. Peach sat calmly, but obviously worried with a look on her face, on her throne as she was told to pass judgment upon Kuro.

"Your royal Highness," a Toad soldier said, bowing and resting on a knee with the rest of his comrades, "we believe we have captured the man responsible for Mario's disappearance."

"Can I say something?" Kuro asked, holding up his right hand only to raise his left as well due to his handcuffs.

"No, you cannot!" One Toad whipped his spear upon Kuro's skull.

"Ow!" He rubbed his head, growing annoyed. "Look, I don't have time for this! I've got to find someone!"

"To meet with your accomplices!" Kuro groaned, rolling his eyes.

"Now, now, everyone," Toadsworth, one of the Mushroom Kingdom's older Toads, chided, standing next to Princess Peach. "We must give this young man a fair trial. For, without fairness, the kingdom would descend into chaos!" Toadsworth was elderly Toad with a white bushy mustache. And, as a Toad, was diminutive. He wore a pair of spectacles over his eyes, a purple vest with gold lining with a purple undershirt with yellow buttons, cute little red bowtie, large brown shoes and a white piece of clothing for pants. And on his head was rather pale yellow mushroom cap with brown spots all over. Toadsworth was Peach's attaché and a caretaker for her as far back as when she was born – making him quite old.

"All right. This boy was found outside of Toad Town, near the place of the last sighting of Mario was," a Toad soldier recalled. "Along with that, he is a stranger to the entire world. No one has ever heard of or seen this boy before. We can't possibly trust someone we've never encountered before."

"OBJECTION!"

Everyone's attention immediately shifted toward Toad and Yoshi, both strangely dressed in blue power suits and red ties. Toad held his finger up in disapproval. "Don't worry, Kuro," he whispered, walking forward with a briefcase. "I did the research and I have the most surefire way for winning your case and freedom." Toad winked assuringly, but that didn't assure Kuro at all. "I defend my client by saying that it is utterly impossible for him to have anything to do with Mario's disappearance," he said, pacing between the Toad soldiers with Kuro and Peach. "For Kuro Higure had only arrived in our Mushroom Kingdom at exactly 1:36 P.M. this afternoon. And, according to the reports we read through, Mario only disappeared at 1:3_**5**_ P.M. AHA! There's the hole in your logic!" Toad laughed uproariously and added quietly to Kuro, "With this we'll be partying and drinking champagne within the next five minutes!" Kuro couldn't help but believe that he'll be finding himself beheaded the next morning.

"Well, both sides have presented their arguments," Toadsworth stated. "All that's left to do is for Princess Peach to make the final verdict."

All eyes rested on the Princess, awaiting the fate of the young stranger to this world. "Um, perhaps we take a brief break before that?" Peach suggested.

"Absolutely, your Majesty!" Toadsworth nodded excitably, picking up a rather large gavel. Struggling to hold it up with both hands, he finally slammed it down once on the table he stood on. "The Princess requires time to make her final verdict. Until then, we'll all take a fifteen minute recess."

"Jeez…," Kuro moaned as Yoshi helped spoon-feed him his fruit salad lunch, sitting on a bench outside of the throne room. "I'm here for five minutes and I'm already indicted of a stupid crime I didn't do." Kuro sighed as he turned to Toad, who was looking through some papers. "Say, who is this 'Mario' guy anyway? Is he really that important?"

"Are you telling me you never heard of Mario?!" Toad asked, astounded. "Mario is the Mushroom Kingdom's legendary hero! He faced the likes of Bowser, Princess Shroob, Dimentio, Cackletta, the Shadow Queen and the like! He saved our world dozens of times over! Without him, our world would plunge into terrible, horrible darkness!"

"Wow, so he's pretty big, huh?" Kuro said halfheartedly.

Toad eyed him suspiciously, raising an eyebrow. "Are you SURE you don't know anything about this?"

"No way! No way!" Yoshi insisted. "Yoshi can tell! Kuro's a good guy!"

He chuckled, "Yeah, you're right, Yoshi. We can't have any doubt around here. Ain't that right, Luigi?" Toad turned his head to look at Luigi, who was sitting across from them on another bench and staring blankly at Kuro. "I said, 'Ain't that right, Luigi?'" he repeated, waving his hand in front of Luigi's face.

He sighed, "Yeah. You are-a right, guys." Luigi stood up and uncomfortably walked toward Kuro, scratching the back of his head. "Sorry-a about that rude-a welcome."

"Hey, it's cool," he smiled warmly. "Maybe the four of us can get to know each other better after this trial – if I don't find myself headless afterward."

"Oh, no!" Toad shook his head. "That's not how we deal with things around here! If anything, the worst thing you'll get is life imprisonment in our dungeons!"

"Yeah, that makes me feel a whole lot better," Kuro deadpanned.

Yoshi, meanwhile, stood straight up, his head looking up into the air. "What-a is it, Yoshi?" Luigi asked.

The green dinosaur took a sniff of the air. "Waa-haa!" he yelped, hopping up and down, interchanging his feet, and waving his hands. "Trouble!"

The four fell to the ground as the entire castle quaked for a brief moment, as if some massive object had rammed into it. "What's going on?!" Kuro yelled.

"Heck if I know!" Toad shouted back.

They heard a horrifying scream coming from the throne room. "Oh-a, no!" Luigi gasped dreadfully. "The Princess!"

Without another moment's delay, the guys darted inside. Kuro gaped in awe at the sight before him – the entire east stone wall was shattered with debris all over and an airborne wooden warship was floating next to it with a flag that bore a black insignia with an image of what seemed to be a terrible beast's face. "Bwa-ha-ha-ha!" a deep and monstrous voice bellowed, throwing Kuro off his ease.

"Waa!" Yoshi cried terribly, trembling in his orange boots. "It's Bowser!"

"Who?" Kuro asked, totally bewildered. "Seriously, guys, I'm new around here; I don't know anything that's going on!"

"Please allow me explain it to you as simply and quickly as possible without leaving you confused," Toad responded placidly – before seizing the sides of Kuro's face and bringing it down to his stature level, "BOWSER IS THE BAD GUY!"

"Right, I probably should've known that…" he garbled, chuckling awkwardly. With a single stomp, an enormous turtle-like creature shook the ground and nearly knocked the guys down again. This menacing creature known as the tyrannical Bowser was huge and burly. He was green-shelled with jagged spikes, had two small horns protruding from his forehead and a mane and eyebrows of fiery orange hair. Around his arms and arms were many spiked collars and had three claws on each of his massive feet, which supported his impressive girth. While his face and his shell were green, his underbelly and snout were flesh-colored, and his tail and limbs are an orange-tinged yellow. His bright red eyes were just the cherry atop this monstrous sundae. And thrown over his left shoulder was – Princess Peach. "Hey, you put her down!" Kuro shouted.

Bowser merely guffawed condescendingly. "I don't think I will," he said in a deep but intimating voice. "I've been waiting a long time for this – Mario's sudden disappearance. Now I can take Peach all for my own!"

"No way, Bowser!" Toad yelled, pulling from behind his back a strange orange leaf. Both he and the leaf started glowing, and Toad transformed, gaining a striped tail and two raccoon-like ears. "We're still here to stop ya!"

"Yoshi! Yoshi!" Yoshi agreed, slipping on two red boxing gloves over his hands and punching the air in front of him.

"Y-y-yeah!" Luigi gulped fearfully, pulling onto his back a red vacuum-like device with a long hose ending with a rectangular opening. Spotting a tag on the machine, Kuro read POLTERGUST 3000 (TM Gadd Science, Inc.).

"Bwa-ha-ha-ha!" Bowser laughed once more. "You three? Don't make me laugh. Oh, wait, I already did!" He snapped his fingers and boomed, "Get those losers, Koopa Troop!" Swarming into the throne room from the hole the warship created was a sea of Bowser's minion – the mushroom-like Goombas, the lesser Koopa Troopas, the spiky Spinies, hammer-throwing Hammer Bros., and the magic-wielding Magikoopas.

"Don't-a worry, Kuro," Luigi said with his back up against his partners and Kuro as the Koopa Army surrounded them. "We'll-a handle this."

"Don't you worry," he said, holding up his right hand and a ball of Fire spell appeared in it. "I'm pretty good with magic."

Both nodded to each other, smiled and charged into battle. "Ha!" Yoshi spat out his long sticky tongue at a Koopa Troopa, catching it by the shell. The Koopa attempted to run away but Yoshi's tongue was too strong. The tongue _is_ the strongest muscle in the body. Retracting his tongue, he swallowed the Koopa with a loud _GULP!_ However, the Koopa's shell was still in his mouth. Seeing four Goombas hurtling toward him, Yoshi spat the shell back out, sending the shell spinning rapidly at his enemies and knocking them away like bowling pins as an odd 'ping' sound rang as the shell hit each Goomba. Spinning on one foot, Yoshi flashed a two-fingered peace sign. "Yoshi!"

The Spinies encircled Toad, slowing advancing on the little fighter – but he had a plan. With a simple flick of his tail, Toad knocked out one Spiny. Like Yoshi did before, he tossed the Spiny's shell and struck multiple Spinies. But he wasn't done yet – Toad began rotating his body speedily, becoming a literal whirlwind and blew away his remaining foes. Once he stopped, his eyes spun around as he stumbled around nauseously. "Note to self: never do that again."

Luigi bawled frightfully as he sprinted randomly from the hammers being thrown at him by the Hammer Bros. "Why-a me?!" he cried. He held up his Poltergust 3000 and activated it, sucking the flying hammers into his weapon. Feeling more confident in himself, Luigi smirked. "All-a right, my turn!" Pointing the Poltergust at the Hammer Bros., he casted his spell and green lighting exploded out of the vacuum and electrified the opponents into submission. Blowing the smoke billowing from the hose, Luigi declared, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

Kuro dodged and evaded the magical spells the Magikoopas flung at him. He summoned two Fire spell fireballs into his hands and tossed them like baseballs, each taking out one Magikoopa. A third one, however, appeared and caught him off guard. It twirled its magic wand and unleashed a wave of fire at him. Thinking quickly, Kuro held his two flat palms together and yelled, "BLIZZAGA!" A gale of Ice magic exploded from his hands, extinguishing the flames. Crying out in disbelief, the Magikoopa was completely frozen into a block of ice. "Heh, heh," Kuro chuckled, tapping the block with his knuckles. "You're out _cold_, huh?"

Luigi, Toad and Yoshi moaned, rolling their eyes and slapping their foreheads. "I-a hope it's-a not because you watched-a _Batman & Robin_," Luigi muttered.

Bowser was furious, slowly seething in and out flames. "Don't think you'll get off that easy!" he roared, pointing up to the sky with a bulky finger. "'Cause now you're gonna have to face one of my most powerful operatives!"

"Bring it on!" Kuro scoffed, laughing. "What's it gonna be now? A rabbit? A _beetle_?" he asked mockingly. Stomping its massive root-like legs, Petey Piranha towered over all. It resembled a plant with its leaf-like arms, a ring of flower petals around his white-dotted red head and pants. Snarling quietly, Petey Piranha lowered its gigantic head over the comparably teeny Kuro and roared mightily, splattering him with slimy goop. Wiping the goop from his eyes, Kuro gurgled, "Oh."

"Bwa-ha-ha-ha!" Bowser cackled, leaping high into the air and onto his warship with Peach. "I'll leave it up to you, Piranha!" Laughing once more, Bowser had the warship to take to the air and out of the kingdom.

"We've got to get to save Peach, Yoshi!" Yoshi exclaimed.

"But we've got to deal with Petey Piranha first," Toad said. "If not, he'll destroy the whole castle and Toad Town!"

"Right!" Kuro agreed. "We'll have to rescue the Princess later!"

"Oh, and I-a only wanted to have-a nice picnic today," Luigi sighed, and yelped as Petey Piranha slammed its head forward in an attempt to crush the four. They all leaped in separate directions, avoiding the attack.

"Yoshi!" he cried, storming at Petey Piranha and punching his boxing gloves rapidly. But Petey Piranha easily countered it with a quick swipe with its arm, sending Yoshi flying into a wall and creating a large crack. "Ahh…"

"Yoshi!" Toad gasped. "I'll get you for that!" He pulled from his back a glowing red flower, absorbing its power. With another flash of light, Toad once again transformed as the colors to his clothes and mushroom cap inverted colors. A fiery ball of swirling fire emerged from each of his hands, and he tossed multiple fireballs at the titanic adversary. Its leafy arms catching fire, Petey Piranha roared in pain. Flapping its arms, the flames were quickly extinguished and created a large tornado that ensnared Toad. "AAAHH!" he screamed as he was flung into the air.

Petey Piranha then turned its attention to its two remaining enemies, Luigi and Kuro. "Eep…" Luigi gulped, his legs buckling and shaking.

"Come on, Luigi!" Kuro shouted, placing a comforting hand on Luigi's shoulder. "We can take on this overgrown weed!"

"N-n-no! I can't!" he cried, dropping to his knees and holding his head. "Oh, Mario! Where-a are you?!"

"Snap out of it, man!" Kuro snapped, slapping Luigi across the face. "So your big, awesome, cool, heroic brother isn't here. So what?! I've never met Mario, but I can tell you that you're just as good as him! You care about your friends and home, just fought the Koopa Troop, and kicked major ass out there!" Luigi's eyes widened. "Yeah, I said, 'ass' and I really don't care at the moment. I'm not giving up and neither should you! Don't give up just because things are looking bleak; you just have to always stay optimistic and believe in yourself!" Kuro held out his hand for Luigi's and smiled. "Trust me. I have a friend like you and I know what I'm talking about."

Luigi wiped his wet eyes and nodded. "Thank you-a, Kuro."

He took Kuro's hand. An unbelievably bright light erupted from the two friends' hands and grew, encasing everything with light. Shielding their eyes from the intense light until it died down, Kuro and Luigi gaped at what was in Kuro's hand. "A Keyblade," Kuro whispered. He recognized its form immediately as his father Riku's Way to the Dawn Keyblade, but instead of dark colors it was white and silvery and with the insignia of a Nobody instead of a Heartless.

_A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Kuro Higure._

"What?"

_You may refer to me as the Path to Life. Now let us take care of that vile beast!_

Shaking his head, Kuro mumbled, "I've got to stop eating burritos before bed."

_Behind you!_

"Behind-a you!" Luigi tackled Kuro away as Petey Piranha took a chomp into the ground they were moments ago. "Don't-a daze, Kuro!"

Putting the voice at the back of his head for now, Kuro chuckled, "Yeah, sorry about that." He gripped his Keyblade tightly as Luigi held his Poltergust 3000 steadily. "Let's go! LUIGI!"

"KURO!" he shouted as well.

"FIRESTORM!" Kuro dashed toward Petey Piranha. It prepared to face any form of attack he was planning, but was baffled as Kuro slide underneath the Piranha Plant on his knees. Spinning his Keyblade, Kuro slowly created a Fire spell that grew in size every second that past. Petey Piranha turned its head to Luigi, whom was also creating a growing fireball. Due to its tiny brain, it was unable to decide which one to attack first but finally settled for Luigi. Petey Piranha tried to lunge for him but found itself unable to move. Looking down, it saw that its feet were completely frozen and stuck to the ground. Kuro and Luigi's two fireballs lifted into the air over Petey Piranha and fused together, continuing growing in size. They both grinned widely as their spell was finally complete. Petey Piranha could only helplessly waved farewell to you, the reader(s), as the colossal fireball dropped over it.

Petey Piranha cried out in agony as the flames engulfed him. As the spell and fire wore away, Petey Piranha was left charred and burned. Coughing out a single smoke puff, the beast was finally defeated as it collapsed to the ground. Luigi and Kuro clapped hands, smiling. Yoshi and Toad, after freeing himself from the tornado, ran over to and embraced the two joyously. "Way to go, you guys!" Toad laughed.

"Yoshi was amazed!" Yoshi agreed.

"Heh, thanks-a, guys," Luigi said, scratching the back of his head gawkily.

"It wasn't a problem," Kuro smirked.

"NO! This isn't a time for celebrating!" Running past Kuro, Luigi, Yoshi and Toad and to the large gaping hole Bowser had escaped through, Toadsworth exclaimed, "We've just allowed Bowser to get away with the Princess! Without its hero and princess, the Mushroom Kingdom will surely fall into ruin!"

"AAH!" Luigi and Toad yelped, slapping their hands over their heads. "WE'VE COMPLETELY FORGOT!"

"What will we do?" Toadsworth cried dreadfully. "Bowser has completely vanished! No trail to follow, no clues, no nothing! It's as if he has disappeared from this world all together!"

Kuro narrowed his eyes. "Maybe he did."

"What?"

"Okay, guys, this may sound insane, but I'm actually from another world," Kuro explained. "I come from a world known as Destiny Islands, but there are also other worlds out there besides mine and this one. It's possible that Bowser had completely escaped from this world and gone to another."

"Oh-a, no!" Luigi bawled. "How-a are we going to save-a the Princess?"

"Yoshi have an idea!" Yoshi piped in. "How about we go to E. Gadd? Yoshi sure he has a ship we can take!"

"All right, you three!" Toadsworth shouted like a drill sergeant. "You're to take a ship to locate and recover Princess Toadstool and possibly Mario, if you can. As for YOU!" He rounded on Kuro. "You're going straight to the dungeons until we figure out what to do with you!"

"What!" Toad, Yoshi and Luigi protested.

"Are you kidding us, Toadsworth?" Toad said. "Kuro just helped save the Mushroom Kingdom!"

"And Kuro fought Bowser!" Yoshi added.

"And-a, most importantly, he's our friend!" Luigi declared, standing in-between Toadsworth and Kuro with Toad and Yoshi. "We won't-a leave him behind!"

Toadsworth sighed, gently rubbing his aching temples. "All right! All right! Just get outta here and find the Princess and Mario!"

Kuro stretched his arms, laughing as they exited the castle. "Whoo! Got out of that without a hitch!"

"Other than the whole invasion, fight, and kidnapping of our princess, right?" Toad deadpanned.

"Er, oh, yeah, that." Kuro chuckled awkwardly. "Anyway, I think I should mention to you guys that getting to another world isn't that simple. A Keyblade wielder has to lock a world's Keyhole and then create a pathway for us to travel on."

"Well-a, you're a Keyblade-a wielder," Luigi stated. "Why-a don't you do it?"

"Are you kidding? It'll probably take AGES before we can find that flippin' Keyhole-" The Path to Life suddenly materialized into his hand. "What the?"

"What's going on?" Toad asked.

"Look!" Yoshi said excitedly, pointing toward the castle. Kuro looked up at the strain-glassed window of Princess Peach and rubbed his eyes just to make sure they weren't fooling him. There it was – the Keyhole.

"Well, ain't that a kick in the pants!" Kuro twirled his Keyblade and pointed it straight for the window. A pure white light shot out of the tip of it and into the Keyhole. The sound of a lock's gears turning rang throughout the world, signaling the sealing the world's heart away safely from any dangers it'll face again. Kuro squinted his eyes, spotting something within the Keyhole. "Is that…what I think it is?" he whispered. He grinned widely. "It is!"

"What-a is it, Kuro?" Luigi asked confused as Toad and Yoshi looked just as puzzled.

Kuro smiled whimsically to his new friends. "Oh, just that I know where we're headed."


	8. Exposition Nation 2

The computer screen zoomed in on a title as it moved forward through cumulus clouds.

_**Chapter 7 – Exposition Nation 2**_

The computer screen continued in on the town of Radiant Garden, a beautiful area that as long since been cleansed of the scourge known as the Heartless and has developed into a fine example of a world. The screen went through a window of a school with a sign that read: SPRINGFIELD ELEMENTARY, where a ten-year-old boy was writing lines on the class chalkboard, presumably set as a punishment by one of his teachers for some mischievous deed or wayward comment. The lines were "_I will not flame _Kingdom Hearts_ fanfiction because they feature cheesy intro sequences from a television cartoon far past its prime._" Quite unusually, the boy had yellow skin, but no one seemed to comment upon it. He had spiky hair and wore an orange t-shirt, blue shorts, and sneakers. Just then the school bell rang and the boy, happily chuckling, dashed out of the classroom in a hurry. He then came flying on his skateboard out of the school and headed home.

The screen then showed a yellow-skinned, bald man in a nuclear power plant. He had a rather large belly, currently wearing a Hazmat suit, and was handling a very dangerous, glowing stick of plutonium. Suddenly the quitting whistle blew. He happily pulled off his helmet and walked off, accidentally causing the small plutonium bar getting stuck into his shirt as he carelessly tossed away the bar. In the background an extremely elderly old man and his _straight_-man were looking at a layout plan. The old man, not believing the early whistle, held his watch up to his ear and shook it, as if he believes it had stopped.

The screen then changed to a yellow-skinned woman and her baby checking out at a supermarket. The woman had tall blue hair and she wore a green dress and a red pearl necklace. The baby just simply wore a long blue dress that extended past her feet, a blue bow on her head, and had a red pacifier which she sucked on constantly. The woman was looking though a magazine, while her baby stood on the conveyer belt and was inadvertently scanned along with the groceries. The cashier rung her up at $847.63 (which was the monthly cost of raising a baby in 1989) and she was mistakenly packaged. Meanwhile the woman wondered where her baby is, who popped her head out of one of the shopping bags, promptly having her mom to sigh in relief.

The screen then introduced a yellow-skin girl wearing an orange dress, whom was told to leave a band rehearsal due to her non-conforming playing, and did so whist playing her saxophone.

The family was on their way to their house at 742 Evergreen Terrace. The man was driving there in his purple car, when he felt something burning on his back. He pulled out the plutonium bar and haphazardly tossed it out the window.

Meanwhile, the boy was skateboarding through the sidewalk, startling many residents as he weaved in between them. And the baby seemed to driving a car, swerving dangerously through the street lanes. But then the computer screen panned out to reveal her mom was driving and the baby was just driving a toy steering wheel.

The family members all miraculously reach home at the same time. The man arrived first, parking his car before their garage, while the boy landed on the roof of the car with his skateboard. As the man stepped out of the car, he quickly jumped out of the way as his daughter zoomed by on her bike. He looked annoyed and then screamed as he spotted his wife's car coming right at him. Then the screen shifted to her sight, inside of the car, showing the man running away from her until he ran in through the door of their garage.

Upon entering their house, they speed toward the family room couch where a Moogle was sitting with the remote. "Yo," it greeted. The family settled down to watch their "must-see" television show.

"Well, this was a waste of half a page," the daughter commented monotonously.

_**RG-RG-RG**_

Rika had had traveled to many worlds. But never had she ridden on anything else beside a Gummi ship, so she was rather excited to fly an actual spaceship that she always saw in science fiction television shows and movies. The key word here was "was". Rika held an aggravated look on her face as she sat in her seat while Yakko, Wakko and Dot bounded all around her and the occasional tug on her arms. "Boingy! Boingy! Boingy!" the three Warners chanted repeatedly.

"Are we there yet?" Rika grumbled, resisting the urge to kill herself to end the insanity.

"Keep your pants on, kid!" Daffy said, tearing his eyes away from the space road they traveled on. Daffy had put on his green spacesuit again as Porky did with his purple suit. "You've been asking that same question for four hours!"

"I _asked_ four hours ago," she corrected drearily. "Rock."

"Paper!" Wakko exclaimed.

"Scissors!" Dot added.

"Shoot!" Rika and Yakko together shouted.

"I'm not playing that stupid game!" Daffy snapped.

"No, I mean rock! SHOOT!" Rika screamed, pointing to the window.

Daffy turned his head back to see that an incoming meteorite about to collide with them. "Oh." Porky quickly jumped into action as he punched in a button, prompting dual lasers to pop out of the top of their ship, blasting the space rock into smithereens. Rika sighed in relief as Daffy cowered in his captain's seat, covering his eyes with his hands. He peeled his right index finger and middle finger apart to peek if they are still alive. Seeing that they were, Daffy coughed into his right fist and sat upright. "Well, it's a good thing we had me here to deal with anything dangerous, huh?" Porky and Rika rolled their eyes exasperatingly.

Suddenly, Porky's controls started beeping and he examined it. He smiled, "W-w-we're here."

"Finally!" Rika cheered, taking off her seatbelt to get a better look at their destination. Standing in-between Daffy and Porky's seats, Rika smiled happily as the world of Radiant Garden came into view. "I haven't been here in such a long time…."

"So why is it called Radiant Garden?" Yakko asked. "Is it filled with glowing flowers or something?"

"Uh…no, not really," Rika answered, shaking her head.

"Well, that's the dumbest name for a place I've ever heard of if there's no glowing flowers," Yakko declared, crossing his arms; Wakko and Dot nodded in agreement.

"In-in-incoming message from the p-p-planet, Captain D-d-dodgers," Porky reported.

"Put it through, Cadet," Daffy ordered authoritatively.

"Foreign vessel," a gruff voice from the control panel said, "this is Cid Highwind, Head of Radiant Garden's Skyway Patrol and Air Force. What is your business here?"

Rika smiled and shouted, "Hiya, Cid! Remember me?"

"Well if ain't it Rika," Cid's voice chuckled. "We were expecting ya."

Rika, Daffy and Porky exchanged puzzled glances. "You were expecting me?"

"I'll explain once I see ya," Cid replied. "Park in Garage Twenty-Five. Cid over and out."

Rika frowned. "More of this destiny stuff I bet."

"A-a-are you s-still on that?" Porky said and then shook his head disapprovingly.

She smiled a little. "Sorry, guys."

"Jeez, angst. It's got to be one of the most overly abused things used in these stories in those stupid RPG games," Daffy said as he rolled his eyes. "And cut that out!" he snapped at the three Warners as they were sitting in the corner of the cockpit sulking.

"My girlfriend was kidnapped…" Yakko said mockingly.

"I have to travel the worlds to save my friends…" Wakko whined.

"My best friend is better than me…" Dot brooded.

"Wow, that really reminds me of my family," Rika muttered, scratching the back of her neck.

The spaceship flowed swimmingly through the white clouds, gliding through the towering buildings and sparkling structures, dozens of little hover cars zipping through the streets and highways like metal insects. The _S.S. Dodgers_ soared to the shining example of a reborn world: Hollow Bastion, a once desolate and decrepit castle, now a beautiful citadel with a bright heart-shaped emblem that no longer resembled the Heartless one. The ship touched down on one of the many platforms at the side of the stronghold. The hatchway lowered and Rika, Daffy, and Porky departed the spaceship with the three Warners each riding on their backs. Daffy spotted a certain ship off by the side of the garage. It wasn't a Gummi, but a large, slightly rusted ship in the shape of a saucer with two mandible-like pieces sticking out the front. A satellite was mounted on the hull and the cockpit was connected to the right side of it. It looked like it went through a lot, but ever ready for more. "This place is too shiny for me," Wakko stated, rubbing his arms nervously.

"Oh, believe me, utopias never last," Dot assured her brother. "It's probably gonna be plagued by various takeover attempts by those lords of darkness."

"W-w-well, it's c-c-certainly show-show-show, ostentatious," Porky remarked,

"We like to give a good first impression," a voice responded.

"Ha, ha, Cid!" Rika laughed as she ran to the seasoned air pilot with goggles.

Cid brushed his hand through his graying hair as he gave Rika quick high-five. "Jiminy Cricket, you've grown," he chuckled, adjusting the obviously censored toothpick in his mouth.

"That's what everyone says, but they never mean it," Rika said with a shrug.

"Yeah, that's true. I mean what, are you a midget?" Rika angrily swung her arms at Cid as he kept her at bay by holding her head back with one hand. "Heh, heh, only kidding you, Girly." Cid looked over Rika's head and stared at Daffy, Porky, and the Warners, whom waved to him obnoxiously. "Wow, what hell happened to you guys? Goofy, you've gained weight and shaved off all your fur, and Donald – you've pulled a reverse Michael Jackson!"

"Whoever are these Donald and Goofy characters, I'm going to give them a piece of my mind," Daffy grumbled.

"Cid, these are my friends," Rika said. "The pig is Porky and the duck is Daffy."

"You don't say," Cid quipped.

"And those three are-"

Yakko slapped his hand over Rika's mouth. "Ah-ah-ah!" He waved his finger no. "We do our own introductions, don't like to bother people." Wakko and Dot burst out laughing, as did Yakko. "Oh, oh! I'm good!"

"I think I busted a gut!" Wakko roared as he rolled on the floor clutching his midsection, and then groaned. "Oh, my a-pen-dexy!"

"I-I-I think you mean a-appendix," Porky deadpanned.

"Siblings, atten-TION!" Yakko boomed then his brother and sister lined up and saluted. "I love being the leader," he smirked.

"We're the Warner Brothers!" Yakko and Wakko exclaimed to Cid with their arms around their shoulders.

"And I'm cute, but you can call me Dot," she said, smiling innocently as an angel's halo appeared over her head.

Cid pointed at them with his thumb and turned to Rika. "Is there something wrong with these three pups?"

"Yes, but we haven't diagnosis it yet," Daffy answered for her while dressed up as a surgeon, complete with rubber gloves and a patient chart. He flipped through it briefly and tossed it aside. "I'm no doctor, but I believe it's a severe case of Toon-itis."

Ignoring them, Rika said, "Cid, you said you were expecting me. What's happening?"

Cid scratched the back of his neck. "I'm not one for exposition, kid. I'll have Leon and the others explain it to y'all. I think he's out of the castle, though." He began walking out of the air garage.

Rika nodded her head. "All right. Come on, guys, walk this way." She waved for her travel companions to follow as she ran after Cid. Daffy and Porky looked to each other, shrugged, and ran exactly like Rika.

Yakko shook his head as he crossed his arms. "Even we're above that tired-old gag." Wakko and Dot clicked their tongues despairingly and also shook their heads.

Cid led them through the ancient halls and corridors of the vast, labyrinthine citadel and out to the shining sun. Radiant Garden certainly has changed from being dark, abandoned, and in a bad state of disrepair. No more. Now they were cleaned, repaired and filled with people, Moogles and other strange races. Shops and stores had been opened up along the avenue, retailing anything from potions and elixirs to armor to – a Quick Stop. Out front hung two very unusual young men; one tall, skinny with long blonde hair and black ski-cap pulled over it; the other shorter, stout, with a black beard, trench coat and baseball cap pulled on backwards. "Come, one and all!" the tall blonde one bellowed with open arms. "Come to Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash, holders of the highest class knickknacks, bric-a-bracs, and whatever crap you want! Except drugs; we have been executively meddled." The blonde turned to his silent partner. "You know what the worst part about this is, Silent Bob? That I can't get away with any F-bombs. It's a (BLEEP!)ing joke, I swear to God."

"I think my virgin ears have been soiled," Daffy commented offhandedly as he picked his right ear (?) with his pinkie.

"The Garden has been attracting the crazies lately," Cid stated. "It has become a sort of tourist stop and a home to a few of those who either lost or left their homes."

"So, b-b-basically, this world's b-become the U-United States to the u-u-universe?" Porky said slowly.

"Er, well, essentially, yeah." Cid chewed on his toothpick awkwardly.

"I'm putting on my In-Case-of-a-Bomb helmet. I'm just saying," Daffy said as placed a large and ineffectually plastic fire helmet on his head.

Rika sighed at her friends' goofy antics and looked around at the assorted shops and apartments. Her eyes landed on one strange shop that stood out from the other fantastic structures surrounding it. A wooden fence stood in front of its grassy yard. The shop was small, but quaint, with tall windows and had many crescent moon decorations. Rika's spine tingled from the strangeness that this little shop emanated; it reminded her so much of places like the Cave of Wonders from Agrabah or the Secret Place on Destiny Islands. She couldn't help but think that place was going to affect her in a big way.

"Rika."

Rika shook her head and saw the others staring at her, and realized that she had stopped walking to stare at the shop. "A-a-are you all r-right?" Porky asked worriedly.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," she said softly. "Let's keep going."

"Does that happen often?" Daffy asked. "You know – your spells?" He wiggled his fingers for emphasis. Rika slapped him so hard that his bill spun around his head several times before slowing down back into its proper position. "You're _deth-picable_…" he hissed as he narrowed his eyes.

Rika ignored him, looked back over her shoulder, and silently gasped; the shop had vanished and only a vacant lot with trash and weeds was left there. "Oh God, this is not good for my mental health," she moaned and gently massaged her temples.

"There's that leather-wearing varmint. Oi, Leon!" Cid called.

Talking to a news reporter was a tall, dark brown-haired man dressed in black leather, a stylized lion pendent hanging around his neck. At his hip was strapped an unusual weapon, not quite a gun, not quite a sword, but a little bit of both: a Gunblade. Leon turned away from the reporter, smirked, and gave a small wave to Rika. "Please excuse me," he said to the taller man in blue. "I have some other appointments to attend to. Could we possibly reschedule, Mr.…?"

"Kent. Clark Kent," he responded, adjusting his glasses. "By all means, Mr. Leonhart. I don't mind."

Leon gave a quick nod to Clark, and walked to Rika, Cid, Daffy, Porky, and the Warners. "Rika, it's good to see you."

"Same here, Leon!" Rika smiled, taking Leon's hand and shaking it. Impatient, Daffy gave a loud cough into his fist. "Oh, yeah. These five are my new friends. Daffy, Porky, Yakko, Wakko and Dot." Rika raised an eyebrow and asked, "I thought nobody can give your introductions?"

"Eh, if we do it all the time it'll get stale," Wakko explained simply.

"Of course," Rika rolled her eyes.

Dot, meanwhile, had her tongue hanging out of her mouth and her eyes have become large, red hearts. She whistled shrilly. "Helloooooo, Mr. Twin Belts!" Hopping into the confused Leon's arms, Dot hugged and rubbed her cheek against his face. "You're cute; I'm cute; so we should go together!"

"Right." Leon dropped her unceremoniously. "We've been expecting you, Rika."

"So I've heard," Rika deadpanned as she rolled her eyes. "Why were you?"

"We received a letter from the King," he explained.

"Was it how to make peanut butter and banana sandwiches?!" Wakko asked excitedly, but Yakko seized his younger sibling and shushed him.

"Not now," he said quietly. "It is dramatic exposition time." Wakko nodded understandingly.

"We got it months ago, it informed us about the threat of the Soulfuls," Leon continued, "and about the prophecy about the Link – you."

Rika swallowed her excess saliva. "Thanks for reminding me."

"I was afraid that they would return eventually," Leon sighed distantly.

"Wait, back up," Daffy said, waving his hands. "You're telling us that those Soulful things existed before?"

"Yes," Leon nodded. "Should I just assume you are all aware what Heartless and Nobodies are?" They nodded. "Okay. Well, it begins just after the creation of the Heartless, but before their plague started infecting the worlds. Ansem the Wise had also studied souls, what gives a being life. He first became aware of souls when he discovered a Nobody. He had thought that since Nobodies are the bodies of a person and Heartless were the hearts, what became of the soul? He was curious as what would happen to a soul when a person passes on or is turned into a Heartless. He thought it must have taken a form of a new being, like Nobodies. At first, it was just simple little philosophy stuff, nothing too serious. But then, one of his assistants – new girl, ambitious, a bit of a klutz – named Gabrielle caught wind of his idea and began developing ones of her own. She figured that souls had to do with something even grander than hearts, even more than Kingdom Hearts.

"But, of course, after the Heartless was released into the world and it came down to guerrilla warfare between us and the Heartless, and Ansem the Wise disappeared and his six main assistants turned into Heartless and Nobodies, all there was left was Gabrielle and seven others. Gabrielle and her associates began developing a possible machine that could reunite a Heartless with its Nobody and soul. She did it. She bonded them, creating a Soulful and broke the laws of life, breaking up the world into smaller ones.

"Gabrielle and her partners were banished from Radiant Garden. She didn't argue, she left without uttering a single word. Gabrielle was guilt-ridden of what she did, but she came across a certain world: Traverse Town, the town made from destroyed worlds caused by the Heartless. She believed she had found the solution to correcting her wrong. She would have the Heartless destroy the worlds; all until the one world has been reunited into Traverse Town. Gabrielle used the Soulfuls to keep the people safe…or so she thought. Since then, she had been at work, preparing for the time to unite the worlds. She had also followed Ansem's lead and abandoned her real name and adopted a new one: Mistress Purity."

The group was silent in the bustling shop street with the blissfully oblivious citizens enjoying their moments of reprieve from troubles. Rika licked her dry lips. "So…" she finally broke the silence, "…Gabri-, sorry. Mistress Purity is one of the Purifiers and the one who created the Soulfuls?"

"Yeah…" Leon nodded. "If you want to know who the others are, they are her associates who helped build the machine. But, when the first Soulful was created, it went on a rampage throughout their lab. As they attempted to restrain it, Purity's assistants fell into the machine and it was activated, which twisted and destroyed their souls. Only fragments of their original souls remained – they became human Soulfuls; all granted the abilities of Soulfuls and new unique powers of their own."

"Jeez, these guys are starting to sound more and more like Organization XIII wannabes," Daffy muttered.

"I don't believe it," Rika said, shaking her head. "Why would she do that? She knew what happened when Xehanort tampered with the hearts of people, and she did it anyway. What was she trying to prove?"

"I don't know," Leon said, "but what I do know is that we have to stop Mistress Purity's objective at all costs."

"Yeah…" Rika whispered as she clutched her heart area. It was just so difficult to believe that someone who just wished to help the world ended up destroying it. She looked to her old and new friends, and smiled weakly, "Hey, if one person can create a mess this big, one person can clean it up."

"That's the spirit," Cid grinned as Leon nodded affirmatively.

"I personally thought _The Spirit_ sucked," Daffy said as he stuck his feathered hands into his imaginary pockets. "Ooh, ice cream!" he squealed as he spotted an ice cream cart, with an aged duck's face on it and the words "McDuck's Sea-Salt Ice Cream" on the side. He snatched up a popsicle and stuck it into his mouth – and promptly gagged. "Yuck! It's salty _and_ sweet! How is this flavor so popular?!"

Rika laughed hard as Leon watched with a bothered look on his face. "Please tell me these wise guys aren't your partners?" he asked.

Rika smirked as she gazed up and gave Leon a knowing look. "Believe me; I'm going to need these guys. It may not seem like it, but they're exactly what I need to help me Link the worlds."

Rika, Leon and Cid stared as Wakko had engulfed the entire ice cream stand as Yakko was smartly bouncing a paddleball in each hand; Dot giving a cute, random stranger many kisses as Porky tried to restrain her; and Daffy hopped all around the street hooting, "Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!" after getting a sugar high from the ice cream.

Rika smiled. "A whole lot more than you can possibly imagine."

_**RG-RG-RG**_

Over at the bailey, two white lab mice walked along the ledge. One was shorter than the other, but had a huge head and forehead; the other had a dumb look on his face and two large front teeth. The shorter one stopped, turned, and gazed at the castle known as Hollow Bastion and taller one stopped behind him. "Look and behold, Pinky!" the short one declared. "The Castle of Radiant Garden! Do you know who used to take residence there?"

"Sleeping Beauty?" the taller mouse, Pinky answered stupidly.

The shorter one rubbed his temples in annoyance. "No, Pinky," he replied calmly. "It was the castle of Ansem the Wise, one of the most famed geniuses of this world. He and his associates worked aimlessly there trying to figure out the greatest mysteries of the heart. It was here that he discovered the greatest secret…"

"You mean where the one sock goes when you have two socks go into a dryer but only one comes out, Brain?" Pinky asked.

The shorter mouse, Brain, turned away and started walking again. "Don't make me have to hurt you," he said. "Come, Pinky, to the castle postern!"

"Why?" Pinky asked, following Brain again. "What are we going to do there?"

"The same thing we always do, Pinky," Brain answered simply. "TRY AND TAKE OVER THE WORLD!"


	9. Take My Breath Away – With Laughter

_**Chapter 8 – Take My Breath Away – With Laughter**_

Leon led Rika, Daffy, Porky and the Warners through the packed streets of Radiant Garden, where dozens of citizens were making their daily purchases. Among them were various street performers, ranging from a sword sallower to mimes. One particular mime was imitating the act of pulling on a rope. Rika snickered, held out her fingers like scissors, and jokingly snipped the imaginary rope. Suddenly, a grand piano dropped on top of the mime, crushing and leaving it a mangle mess of awkwardly positioned limbs. Her eyes widened in shock, and darted left and right. Rika quickly shoved her hands into her pockets and walked away innocently, whistling to the tune of a song called Simple and Clean.

Nobody liked mimes.

Ignoring what just happened, Rika asked, "So, er, Leon? The Keyhole to Radiant Garden has already been locked?"

"Well, yes…and no," he answered vaguely. "Your father locked _a_ Keyhole here years ago, back when he just started. But that was the Final Keyhole created from the hearts of the Princesses of Heart by Maleficent. So I'm not entirely sure if it was actually this world's Keyhole or not. It could might as have well been an artificial gateway to Kingdom Hearts."

"Why do these things have to be so complicated?" Daffy griped, slapping his forehead.

"Eh, no worries," Rika said with a shrug. "I'll just check it out. If Stardom Key reacts to it, then we'll know and link Radiant Garden. Killing two birds with one stone."

"I take umbrage to that!" Daffy snapped as he prodded Rika in the shoulder.

"Oh, sure, take all the umbrage and leave nothing for us!" Yakko said indignantly.

"No, I mean I take offense," he said.

"And you want our fence too? Well, fine!" Yakko reached behind his back and pulled out a picket fence in front of him. "Take it. But we're tapped out!"

Daffy stared him askance and dragged his hand over his face, making his bill spring like a diving board. "Aren't you three supposed to be making a journal or something?"

"Yeah, but Wakko ate the pages we wrote," Dot said as she pointed to Wakko, who was ripping out pages from a little notebook and stuffing them into his large mouth.

"Mmm, vowels…" Wakko declared

Rolling his eyes, Porky asked, "Th-th-then you kn-kn-know where the K-Keyhole i-i-is?"

"Yeah, it's located right in heart of the cathedral," Leon replied.

"Oh, of course it is," Daffy said as he rolled his eyes.

"Thanks for the information, Leon," Rika said with a smile. "It was a lot of help. But we really have to get going as soon as possible after we stock up our ship and link the world."

"I understand," Leon said, nodding. "You really do have a daunting task ahead of you."

"I really wish people would stop saying that…" Rika muttered, annoyed.

Suddenly, she and the others was knocked off their feet as the building they were standing next to exploded, flames erupting all around it; citizens screamed as they ran away from the area. "W-w-what the heck is g-going on?!" Porky screamed as he helped Rika and Daffy to their feet.

"And I was _so_ hoping that we could've avoided all this," Daffy groaned as he licked his thumb and put out a flame on his tail feathers.

"No!" Leon growled as shadowy beings emerged from the burning building, all with ravenous yellow eyes that struck fear in their hearts. "The Heartless!"

"What are they doing here?" Rika whispered.

"No time for questions," Daffy shouted as he pulled out his two nunchaku, spinning them swiftly. One of them changed from green to a light blue and he snapped it, unleashing a flurry of Ice magic at the Heartless while also extinguishing the flames.

Rika summoned her Stardom Key as Leon whipped out his Gunblade. "Leon, we'll handle these guys," Rika shouted as she swung her Keyblade and slashed across a Soldier Heartless' torso. "You go warn everyone!"

"You sure you can handle this by yourself?" Leon said as he jabbed his weapon into the air and stabbed a Air Soldier in the head.

"Nope," she replied, and then smirked. "But I'm not by myself." She gave a quick jerk of her head at Porky, who kicked one Shadow Heartless into a building's wall and slashed it with one of his shield's spikes.

Leon nodded. "All right. Good luck!" With that he ran for the castle, swinging his Gunblade at any pursuing Heartless.

"Just don't DIE!" Rika yelled as continued her fight against the Heartless.

"Wh-wh-where are these guys c-c-coming from?!" Porky shouted.

_**RG-RG-RG**_

_One hour earlier…_

Pinky and the Brain navigated the gloomy, silent corridors of the castle, their footsteps echoing off the recently polished walls. "So what exactly do you have planned, Brain?" Pinky asked.

"Have you ever heard of Xehanort, Pinky?" Brain responded.

"Yes!" Pinky said as he nodded excited. He stopped and thought for a moment. "Uh…actually, no. Who was he?"

"He was the prized pupil of Ansem the Wise, the proprietor of this castle," Brain explained. "When Ansem gave up his study of the darkness inside people's hearts, Xehanort and his fellow accomplices continued what was started. They worked day and night studying the effects of the darkness. Then, one day, they made the most interesting find!"

"The flavor of Dr. Pepper?" Pinky asked.

"The Heartless!" Brain exclaimed. "Creatures without hearts, formed from the darkness in people's hearts. Cold, emotionless, unintelligent beings that only strive for one purpose: to claim the light in the hearts of others!"

"So they're like IRS workers?" Pinky suggested.

"More vicious than even that, Pinky!" Brains continued. "These creatures seek and hunt out any living thing capable of feeling. They operate on mere, primal instinct. But, they can be controlled by one whose heart is devoid of light, fueled by the darkness in his heart. That is why we're here."

"But that still doesn't explain why our showwas canceled!" Pinky cried out in despair.

"This has nothing to do with that!" Brain snapped.

"I know," Pinky replied. "That's what makes it annoying, Zoink!" Brain sighed.

Pinky and the Brain entered Ansem's former study. Pinky sat on the edge of Ansem's desk while Brain stood atop an old journal, reading it and occasionally using his feet to turn the page. "According to the eighth Ansem report," Brain said, focusing on the journal. "Xehanort created a machine that was able to artificially produce Heartless. The machine was a success. With the machine, Xehanort could create Heartless seamlessly identical to natural-born Heartless." Brain then stepped off the journal and closed it. "If we can find Xehanort's machine, we would be able to create an unlimited army of Heartless! Such simple, mindless beings are uncomplicated to command. And with the machine, we can create vast multitudes. We can easily replace felled Heartless. Today, Hollow Bastion. Tomorrow, this world. Next week, all the worlds!" Brain raised a fist in the air. "Veni, Vidi, Vici!" he exclaimed.

Pinky, facing Brain, mindlessly applauded. "Egad, Brain!" he cheered. "That is a brilliant plan, Point!" Pinky abruptly stopped, confusion coming across his face. "Oh, wait," he said. "Where exactly would we find this machine, Brain?"

"Why do you think I dragged you out to this castle?" Brain asked.

"Sight-seeing?" Pinky answered stupidly.

Brain jumped above Pinky and bopped him on the head. "Why do I even bother asking?" he groaned. He took a deep breath and continued calmly, "Xehanort's machine is somewhere in this castle, and we need to find it!"

"Oh, come now Brain!" Pinky said, hopping onto the floor below. "It's not like you can just mosey on over to any given wall and just press against it, expecting to find a secret passage!"

He rested his hand against the study's wall and triggered the secret switch. To both of Pinky and the Brain's surprise, a secret passage did open, the passage that lead to Ansem's computer. "Narf!" Pinky gasped. "Speak of the red guy!"

The Brain leaped off the desk and walked towards the secret passage. "Pinky, I believe your ignorance just discovered our bounty," he said as he walked into it. "Come. There is much to do."

At the end of the secret passageway, Pinky and the Brain stumbled upon the highly advanced computer room. Pinky was at awe. "Egad, Brain!" Pinky shouted. "Look at the size of that computer! You think you can play Bejeweled on it? Point!"

Brain rolled his eyes at his moronic partner. "We have more important things to work on than some mindless computer game," he retorted. Brain walked over and climbed up onto the keyboard, Pinky following him. Brain hit a few keys with his foot, causing several things to pop up onto the screen. He studied them carefully. "Apparently this computer is being used by the local denizens for the town's security system," he said. "There also seems to be a database on Xehanort's research. If I'm correct, this computer must also control Xehanort's Heartless machine." Brain began to jump around a little on the keyboard, tapping on the various buttons. Soon, a window appeared on screen.

"'Heartless Man-ooh-factory'," Pinky read slowly.

"The Heartless Manufactory!" Brain exclaimed. "This is it, Pinky! What we have been searching for!" Suddenly, a little, dark swirling portal appeared beside the two mice. The Brain was calm, but Pinky on the other hand…

"Wow!" Pinky gazed in wonder. "So Square-Enix-y!"

A form came into focus, the form of the dark witch herself. "Maleficent," Brain greeted with a nod.

"Look, Brain!" Pinky gasped as he pointed at the portal. "It's the Evil Witch from _Sleeping Beauty_!"

"Ignore him," Brain said as he rolled his eyes. "We have located the Heartless machine. Shall I activate it now?"

"Yes," Maleficent declared with a dark smile. "But do not forget to insert the program disc."

"Of course," he said with another curt nod. As the portal disappeared into nothingness once more, the Brain muttered to himself, "Insufferable witch."

"Brain! How could you talk about our new friend like that? Traz!" Pinky chided.

"Please, Pinky. We're simply just using her," Brain responded.

"We are? But I thought we were trying to take over the world, you know, like always?" Pinky said confusedly.

He sighed. "I am here to take over the world. But Maleficent wishes to drive it into ruin. I, on the other hand, desire to take over the world to make it a better place."

"Golly, Brain! You sure are a nice guy!" Pinky said with a large grin.

"Of course I am." Brain pushed the enter key on the keyboard, which selected the _Activate Heartless Manufactory_ button. Soon, the humming of machinery warming up began. The Brain and Pinky focused their attention to it, jumped down, and ran to the balcony's edge. They peered over the balcony to the room far below them. There, a large mechanical arm hovered over a small pad. The electrode on the arm fired an electrical spark onto the pad. A bolt of lighting then surged through to the pad. A Solider Heartless' figure coming formed from where the bolt struck. Once completed, it hopped off. Another bolt struck, and another Heartless was created.

"NAAAARRFFFF!" Pinky marveled.

"YES!" the Brain screamed joyously.

_**RG-RG-RG**_

Rika stood back-to-back with her two partners as the Heartless swarmed all around them. "Heh, I wonder if this was anything like when my old man was with Donald and Goofy," she mused playfully as she gripped her Keyblade.

"I dunno, but from your descriptions of that Donald guy, I am starting to think that Disney ripped us off," Daffy grumbled, but then looked left and right. "Say, what happened to the Warners?"

Standing atop a shop, Yakko Warner stood with his brother and sister as they overlooked their friends fighting off Heartless. "Radiant Garden…" he said softly. "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious."

"Gag Bag time?" Wakko asked excitedly, his tongue hanging out and panting.

"Be my guest, little brother!" Yakko declared.

"Yippee!" he cheered as he pulled out a little, brown paper bag with the words GAG BAG was written on it with a pencil. He dug into the bag and pulled out a bowling pin. Shaking his head, he tossed it aside. He then held up a kitchen sink, and that was also thrown away. Wakko then pulled out a Sony PlayStation 3. Shrugging, he took a bite out of it and then flung it away as well. Digging deeper into his bag, Wakko grinned as he exclaimed, "Here!"

"Do-da-do!" Dot hummed as Wakko raised an old-fashioned vacuum cleaner above his head, light shining from it.

The three Warners hopped onto the vacuum, and Yakko shouted, "Hit it!" Wakko happily obliged as he kicked the ON switch. The vacuum sprang to life, roaring mightily as it flew off from the building and to the ground.

"What's that sound?" Rika asked as she knocked away a Large Body.

"L-l-look!" Porky shouted, pointing. Daffy and Rika turned and saw the rapidly approaching vacuum with the Warners still riding it.

"Run for it!" Rika and Daffy screamed as they ran away in terror.

The vacuum cleaner zoomed through the masses of Heartless, sucking in every last one of them into its hammerspace bag. All the while, Yakko, Wakko and Dot sang, "_Star...Trekkin' across the universe! Only going forward 'cause we can't find reverse!_"

With the remaining Shadow Heartless sucked into the vacuum, the three Warners hopped off and declared, "All done!"

Yakko looked around. "Huh, where's Rika and Daffy and Porky?"

Dot held her hand over her ear as she stood next to the massive vacuum bag. Hearing the familiar sounds of a girl screaming, a duck quacking, and a pig grunting, Dot said, "I think we sucked them up too."

"Whoops," Wakko said awkwardly as he held one hand over his mouth. He walked next to the vacuum, spun his leg, and simply gave it a little kick. The vacuum sputtered and coughed up Rika, Daffy and Porky.

"M-m-my God," Porky whispered. "It was f-f-full of stars…"

"Well, at least the Heartless are gone," Rika said with a sigh. "Good work, guys." Yakko, Wakko and Dot beamed.

"Yeah, tell that to my aching back pain," Daffy grumbled as he attempted to straighten his spine.

"Come on," Rika said, beginning to run off. "Let's get to the castle and see if anyone knows what happened!"

Porky and the Warners nodded, and chased after her. Daffy slowly waddled behind them. "They don't pay me enough…" he said with a sign.

_**RG-RG-RG**_

Leon threw open the doors to the front entrance of the castle's lobby. Waiting there were two men, one black and the other white; and, strangely, they were both carrying towels. The black man wore his towel around his shoulders and carried a satchel by his side. While he was dressed quite well for travel, his friend was in pajamas and a bathrobe, almost like he was just pulled out of bed this morning (which he was). The black man was calm, cool, and serene. The other man, however, was nervous and trouble, repeating the words "culture shock" over and over.

"Hey, you!" the black man called to Leon. "We need to talk to the head honcho around here, sass you frood?"

"Not now," Leon hissed as he ran pass the two men and further into the cathedral.

"Are _all_ people from another world rude like this, Ford?" the pajama-wearing man asked.

"If they're rich punks like him, sure," the man called Ford Prefect relied with a shrug. "Radiant Garden is going to be receiving a harsh critique of their costumer service from me, that's for sure!"

"Oh, much like the Vogons when they _obliterated_ my world?" Arthur Dent sulked. "And why is it even called Radiant Garden?"

Ford reached into his satchel and pulled out a little book-like electronic calculator with a large screen and many buttons with odd little symbols that Arthur couldn't make heads or tails out of. And right on the front cover, in large friendly letters, were the words DON'T PANIC. This was _The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_. "Hmm, according to the _Guide_, it said that its name was Hollow Bastion, but they changed it back to its original name several years ago," Ford said.

"Oddly enough, I find the name Hollow Bastion more riveting and engrossing," Arthur muttered. "How long are we going to be here, Ford? Didn't you mention that the Vogons were coming here as well? Should we be, oh, I don't know …finding a ship and _escaping this doomed hunk of dirt_?"

"Now without alerting the world leader," he replied. "It's my duty as a hitchhiker to make sure any place in the universe worth visiting is preserved."

"The same words couldn't have been said for my planet, eh?" Arthur asked monotonously.

Leon barreled through the many passageways of the castle, not wasting a precious moment. Finally, he came across what he was looking for – the Hollow Bastion Loudspeaker System. Snatching up the microphone and hitting the large red button, Leon shouted, "Attention all members of SeeD! Radiant Garden is under the threat of Heartless!" A shadow fell over Leon. He turned his head to the window. His eyes widen as he bellowed, "Send all members to their stations! This is an invasion of agents of darkness! Repeat: This is- (cough) This is- (cough, cough)!" Leon gasped for air as green gas filled his lungs. He dropped to his knees, still gripping the microphone. An urge began to overtake his body. Leon hugged his chest as his insides burned and sweat pored from his head.

He smiled.

It grew into snickering. It turned into chuckling. Finally becoming full-blown laughter. Leon couldn't control it, he kept on laughing as he hugged his stomach to keep it from cramping. Tears rolled from his eyes as everything began fading into darkness. He tried to keep awake as he attempted to look at the man responsible. Dressed in a purple suit and face as pale as snow, the Joker said, "My, my, my! They crack up before I even begin! I guess my reputation precedes me. Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-**HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-**_**HA!**_"


	10. Heroes Unite!

_Okay, I just want to give a heads up right now that this story is going to be EXTREMELY off chronological from the various series featured in here. Such as some of the _Final Fantasy_ characters haven't aged that much. Just wanted to alert you all._

_**Chapter 9 – Heroes Unite!**_

"Move your asses, everyone! This is a code red invasion!" bellowed a familiar woman to the dozens of trained mercenaries known as SeeD. As lively as ever, the Great Ninja Yuffie commanded them all to their stations located throughout the citadel Hollow Bastion and outside to do battle with the raging army they faced. "Come on, come on! We've got no time to way! Get to your positions, you maggots!" Yuffie snickered briefly to herself. "I always wanted to say that."

"How's about you lead your team outside first, you runt," Cid said with a growl as he lightly tapped her head with his fist.

"Oh, hey Cid," Yuffie greeted awkwardly. "I thought you were taking Rika to see Leon?"

"That was three hours ago," Cid deadpanned. "Point is: I'm back. In charge. And you're to get your little patoot out there to lead the attack!"

"Eh, fine by me." Yuffie shrugged. "I've been itching for action for a while now! Now where's my team? Team Yuffie, LINE UP!" She grinned. "I always wanted to say that, also!"

Through the massive chaos of the SeeD locating their necessary weapons, items, and stations, five specific cadets marched forward. "Kim Possible, reporting for duty!" a bright and exuberant redheaded teen called.

"Ben Tennyson, reporting for duty!" a young and bold teen with green eyes declared.

"Manny Rivera, reporting for duty!" an excited Hispanic child said cheerfully.

"Yin, reporting for duty!" a little anthropomorphic pink-furred rabbit answered with a proper salute.

"Yang, reporting for kicking butt!" a _blue_-furred anthropomorphic rabbit shouted with a cackle, and then burped obnoxiously.

Yin sighed as she shook her head, ashamed. Cid frowned as he eyed the five. "These brats were the best we could get?" he said to Yuffie worriedly.

"Wait, wait! Sorry! I got my pants stuck in a door!" a young, nasally voice yelled. Running toward them was another teen with blonde hair. "Don't leave with out me – WHOOP!" Losing his balance as he tripped over his loose shoelaces, the young cadet crashed into the other five, leaving a large dog pile. Smiling awkwardly, the teen saluted. "Ron Stoppable, reporting for duty?"

"Yeah, the future doesn't look very bright, does it?" Yuffie said with a light pout. "All right, Team Yuffie! This is it! Your first actual confrontation with the enemy known only as the Heartless!"

"I thought they're also known as the Darkness?" Manny asked.

"Don't interrupt me!" Yuffie snapped loudly, prompting Manny to flinch and imitate zipping his lips. "Now where was I? Oh, right. Defeating the undefeatable! Now, I didn't have to choose you cadets; and you aren't exactly the best we've got, but you were chosen by me for a reason!"

"We were the last ones there left without a team general?" Yin asked.

"Yes, but that isn't the point!"

Kim coughed. "May I suggest we head out to the battlefield before we're the last ones here?"

"Too late," Cid said with a sigh. Everyone's head turned left and right. Indeed, Team Yuffie was the only group left in the barracks.

Yuffie slapped her forehead. "Screw the inspiration speech! Let's just go out there and kick some ass!" She raised her massive shuriken and swung it toward the door leading to the battle. "CHARGE!"

"YEAH!" Team Yuffie cheered, pumping their right fists eagerly. Without another thought (or strategy) in their minds, all of Team Yuffie dashed straight out the door, screaming their little heads off with their individual battle cries.

"She's going to get all of 'em killed," Cid declared simply.

_**RG-RG-RG**_

Meanwhile, in a Kwik-E-Mart in the market area of Radiant Garden, a Japanese man known only as Jack focused all his attention at the task he had at hand: Working the Squishee machine. Never had he faced a more difficult challenge, or one as perplexing. Jack placed his hand on his square chin confusedly. He lowered himself to stare at the bizarre liquid (solid?) swishing around inside the machine. His eyes narrowed thoughtfully. He'll overcome this puzzle yet!

"Please, sir, If you are just going to stand there all day, please leave!" the overly-stereotypical Indian accented Kwik-E-Mart clerk said, pointing out the electrical sliding doors. "You are frightening the other consumers with your sword weapon and white kimono!"

Jack turned to him and said, "I am sorry, um…" Jack leaned forward and read the clerk's nametag, "Apu Nahasa…pee – ma? My, that surname is far more complicated than any name from where I come from."

"All right, all right!" Apu snapped, waving his hand exasperatingly. "You want a Squishee? Fine! Have a Squishee!" Picking plastic cup, Apu swiftly filled it with delicious soft drink, shoved it into Jack's hands, and stabbed a swirly straw into it. "Pay for your drink, please go – and thank you! Come again!" That last comment seemed almost like a verbal tic.

Jack stared at Apu, and then glanced down as his drink. It started bubbling and making gurgling noises that almost sounded like "_death…._" Jack blinked. Shrugging, Jack took a little sip through the usually shaped straw.

His eyes shot wide open. He began sucking on his lips, quickening rapidly over seconds. "This is magnificent!" Jack declared, holding the Squishee with both of his hands, almost reverently.

As soon as Jack had exited his shop, Apu clicked his tongue disapprovingly. "Ack, foreigners."

_**RG-RG-RG**_

Clark Kent stepped out of the Daily Planet elevator and into a raging sea of his fellow reporters as they each claimed they had the "scoop of the century." Locating who he was looking for, Clark waved to her. "Lois!"

A beautiful woman with waving black hair turned to him with a deadly glare that caused Clark to flinch helplessly. "Why didn't you tell me you were going to interview Squall Leonhart today?" she asked dangerously.

Sensing her anger, Clark anxiously pulled on his tie. "I, um, you see. You were out at lunch at the time, and we just got a call that he was willing to do an interview for the Daily Planet. Naturally, I had to secure that interview for _us_ before anyone else could snatch it up from us. So…." Lois grabbed Clark's necktie and pulled – taking the tie off. "Erm, it's a clip-on," he said embarrassingly.

"Heh," Lois scoffed as she rolled her eyes, handing back the tie. "You're learning. But the point…" she grabbed a fistful of Clark's blue jacket and pulled him down to her eye level, nearly knocking his glasses off, "…is that you have to let me know when you do these sorts of things. Capiche?"

Clark adjusted his glasses and nodded. "I got it."

Lois released him and smiled. "Good. Now saddle up. Everyone's heading for the castle."

Confused, Clark asked, "Why? What's going on?"

"Apparently the world's being attacked by the Heartless," Lois said offhandedly as she picked up her bag with her equipment.

"Er, shouldn't you be a little more alarmed by that?" Clark asked, following her as she began heading for the elevator.

"Not when you're a reporter for the Daily Planet, Smallville," she answered with a smirk.

"Um, you go ahead, Lois," Clark said. "I've really got to get this interview with Mr. Leonhart written."

Lois raised an eyebrow. "You're willing to allow a helpless woman like myself head toward a dangerous area where I could be most like injured, or possibly killed, by myself?"

"Erm…."

"Calm down, Kent. I was kidding," Lois said. "I can handle myself. I'm a big girl." She lightly punched Clark in the shoulder.

Lois waved good-bye as Clark waved back, flustered. As soon as the elevator doors shut, Clark Kent's face quickly took on a serious expression, almost if he was a completely different person. Taking off his glasses and loosening his buttoned shirt, he declared, "This looks like a job for –"

"A job for whom, Mr. Kent?" a voice asked.

"Whoa!" Clark yelped, quickly closing his shirt and placing his glasses back on. Standing behind him was the Daily Planet janitor, Penry Pooch, an anthropomorphic dog with an oversized purple shirt and red cap. "Oh, Penry. I didn't see you there. A job for whom, you say? A job for…erm, um, SeeD! Yes, that's it! SeeD! They should be able to handle the Heartless without any troubles at all!"

"Heartless, eh?" Penry responded curiously. "I don't know about that. It would seem like they'd need help."

"Uh, yeah. I agree. Excuse me, Penry. It'd really be best if I got going," Clark said as he excused himself.

"Have a good day, Mr. Kent!" Penry called after him; Penry's pet cat with stripes running down its back strolled next to the janitor and gave a deadpan stare at its owner. "Did you hear that, Spot?" Penry said. "Heartless have invaded the town. And you know what _that_ means, right?" Spot rolled his eyes and held his deadpan face. "This looks like a job for Hong Kong Phooey!"

_**RG-RG-RG**_

In yet ANOTHER part of Radiant Garden, a lone police car rolled down the cobblestone roads. Inside, an inspector with a buttoned overcoat and a usual hairstyle drove. Sitting next to him was his blonde-haired niece, who had a rather troubled look on her face. "Erm, Uncle Gadget?" she piped up. "Should we REALLY have arrest this guy?"

"He's a menace to society, Penny," the inspector by the name of Gadget replied with a highly nasally voice. "He has to be brought in for justice!"

Penny turned around to see that said menace to society has his naturally blue face pressed up against the glass that separated them from him and making funny faces. "Yes, 'menace to society'," Penny muttered.

"I demand someone to call me a lawyer!" the criminal shouted, bouncing impatiently in the backseat with handcuffed hands and dressed in a red jumpsuit with a large F and exclamation point on his torso.

"All right, you're a lawyer," Gadget said.

"Thank you!" the "Freakazoid" said with a grin. "Besides, I did nothing wrong! I was merely stopping an actual criminal!"

"You tackled an old lady!" Gadget said incredulously.

"Yeah, but she was pulling a truly heinous act!"

"She was trying to get into her house!"

"'Breaking into,' I say!" Freakazoid argued.

"Oh, hang on. I'm getting a call from the Chief on the Top-Secret Gadget Phone." Gadget parked his Gadgetmobile and stepped out. Turning back, he said, "Watch the criminal for me, will you please Penny?"

"No problem," Penny said a slight frown.

"That's a good girl." Inspector Gadget pulled on his right thumb, pulling out an antenna, and held up his hand to the side of his face like an actual phone. "Hello, Chief? You're where? I'm on my way!"

Penny sighed as her Uncle Gadget quickly ran off to his chief's hidden location; and, almost on cue, another police car pulled up to the side of the Gadgetmobile. Its passenger's window slid down and showed an aged police officer in the standard blue uniform. "Hey, Penny," the officer greeted in a deep and gravelly voice.

"Hi, Sergeant Cosgrove," Penny replied, waving with a smile.

"Hey, Freakazoid, some Heartless are really tearing up the cathedral area of the world," Cosgrove said. "You might want to look into that."

"Right-o!" Freakazoid boomed. Opening the unlocked backdoor, Freakazoid casually stepped out, took off his free handcuffs, and handed them to Penny. "Tell your uncle that I went out for a walk, okay?"

"No problem, Freakazoid," Penny said nonchalantly. "Same time next week?"

"Sounds good to me!" he said with a massive smile. "I'm off!" Penny and Cosgrove shielded their eyes as a flash of lightning shined from Freakazoid, about to make his amazing trek to Hollow Bastion. He held up his arm and starting running rather slowly, making "whoosh!" sounds.

"Hey, Penny, wanna go tie a whole bunch of balloons to a house and fly off to South America?" Cosgrove asked serenely.

"I've got nothing else better to do outside of this cameo," Penny replied with a shrug.

Gadget looked all around. "Chief? Where are you?"

"_In here, Gadget! The mailbox!_" a voice hissed.

Turning his head, Gadget spotted a hand waving him closer that was sticking out of a mailbox. "Your ability to hide anywhere will never cease to amaze me, Chief Quimby!" Gadget said.

"You've got a new mission, Gadget," Chief Quimby said as he held up a little piece of paper that couldn't possibly be anything else nor do anything else other than being written on or read from.

Gadget raised the note close up to his face, his eyes dotting left and right and a strange typewrite sound went off as they did. "'At twelve-thirty-three this afternoon and massive explosion destroyed several buildings. Massive legions of Heartless invaded soon afterward. Your mission is to assist SeeD against the invading Heartless and discover their leader(s) and their leader(s)'s hidden motives. This message will self-destruct in five seconds.' Don't worry about a thing, Chief. Gadget is on the case!" Gadget crumbled up the note and obliviously tossed it into Quimby's mailbox as he ran back to the Gadgetmobile.

"NO!" the chief screamed.

_BOOM!_

"Ooooh, I should have _really_ seen that coming…" Quimby grumbled, covered in soot as he drummed his finger on the now topless mailbox.


	11. The Long Battle

_**Chapter 10 – The Long Battle**_

Rika battled her way through wave after wave of Heartless. It never seemed to end; and she was growing fatigued, a sweat building from her brows and her breath labored as she held up Stardom Key to block a charging Large Body. "Back off!" she shouted. Swinging back like a baseball player, Rika swung her Keyblade and knocked the fat Heartless spinning away and crashing into a group of ten Soldiers lined up in a triangular formation. "Strike!" Rika grinned, wiping away the sweat. "How are you guys holding up?"

"Oh, I'm all right. How are you?" Daffy replied nonchalantly, as he ran in terror from a little Shadow that had stolen his twin nunchucks. Porky sighed, rolling his eyes, and simply punted the Shadow away, catching the nunchucks it dropped. He held them out to Daffy with a dull stare. "Thanks, butterball, but I could have handled the little runt himself."

"S-s-sure, you can," Porky deadpanned.

Rika turned to look at the cathedral towering over the other buildings, and frowned. "Exactly how much farther do we have to run?"

"Well, according to this conveniently-placed directory," Daffy said as he examined said helpful map, "we're here," he pointed at the little red dot, "and the castle is waaaaaaay…" he dragged a feathered finger across the map for an estimated seven miles from the dot, finally stopping on the large block that represent Hollow Bastion, "…over here."

"Should've known," Rika groaned, backhanding an Air Soldier that was attempting to sneak up behind her – but was smacked the upside of her head by a rock thrown by a Shadow. "Ow! I can't help but feel that rock was meant to make sure I wasn't being overpowered…" she muttered glumly as she rubbed the back of her head.

"W-w-with the me-me-medium awareness aside," Porky said, "we-we-we're not go-go-gonna make i-i-i-i, get anywhere close to the castle at this rate."

"Well, how else do you think we're gonna get there faster, in an unlocked abandoned car that someone just happened to leave around here?" Daffy said as he rested his arm on the hood of an unlocked abandoned white Volkswagen Beetle. "Don't answer that," he grumbled when he saw Porky and Rika's smirks.

"Wow, and it's still in pretty good shape," Rika muttered, as she examined the car while Porky got behind the wheel – and was shoved aside by Daffy who wanted it. She brushed her hand over the red, white and blue racing stripes that from the back to front bumpers, finally stopping on the number fifty-three on its front hood.

The little bug suddenly sounded off a loud honk, startling Rika so much that she tripped over a stack of empty paint cans. "Okay," she said, her voice echoing from inside a can over her head as she lifted it off. "Who's the wise guy?"

"I didn't do anything," Daffy said innocently as little golden halo poofed over his head.

"Really?" Rika asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

"T-t-truthfully, Rika, he r-r-r-really didn't," Porky said, rather surprised himself. Daffy smiled widely to his partner, who shook his head in disbelief.

"Really…" Rika repeated. _Was it maybe the horn was broken?_ she pondered, staring at the Beetle. She quickly shut her eyes tight, and opened them again. _Did that car just wink at me?_ "Great, first that shop, now this. Maybe I should commit myself once this is over," Rika grumbled.

_**---**_

Cid frantically smashed his fingers around the keyboard connected to various computer screens, each displaying an area of Radiant Garden's city, all live. Regulating every team, everyone's group and attack formations was a difficult task for one man to do. Cid had filed a complaint to Leon about this, but he brushed him off, saying that no one else knew how to work the computers better than him. When Cid argued why not get someone from the science division to do it, Leon had already vanished.

Cid groaned; he needed something to calm his nerves. He chewed on his toothpick. "Yeah, this ain't gonna cut it," Cid declared, tossing the toothpick aside. He looked around to make sure that no one was around, and, once he was sure, he pulled out a bent up cigarette from his pocket that he was saving since the old days, before Radiant Garden became "Disney-friendly." Ignoring the large "No Smoking" sign behind him, Cid lit the joint and puffed deeply.

"That's the stuff." Cid grinned, returning to work. He turned to one screen, displaying Yuffie leading her team in the market area.

A flock of Bookmasters was unleashing Fire spell after spell, setting various shops ablaze. "Yang and Ben, put out those fires!" she shouted, waving a large shuriken that couldn't possibly be of any practical use in actual combat in her hand.

"On it," Ben, or rather, Big Chill said. Beating his large blue wings, Ben had become a giant moth-like alien being. Flying above one burning building, Ben/Big Chill breathed in deeply and he exhaled a subzero breath that cooled the building to the point of freezing.

"Uh, great. How the heck am I supposed to compete with THAT?" Yang griped.

"Well, think of something, doofus," his sister, Yin, said, as she fired blasts of magic energy from her fists at Darkball Heartless.

"I'm not a doofus, you…you, um. She-doofus!" Yang finished lamely. Yang's eyes darted around, searching for anything wet. They fell on an outdoor Squishee machine. "That will have to do." Yang took hold of the machine's nozzles, and pulled. With a little effort and a grunt, the nozzles reeled out into his hands and he grinned. "Do you feel lucky, punk?" Yang said in a mock gravelly voice, unleashing twin streams of cold drink over buildings, killing the flames. "Oh, yeah! Who's bad?"

"Very nice," Kim Possible said monotonously, as she held up her fists in a fighting pose as she faced several Armored Knights, Neoshadows, Crimson Jazz, and a Surveillance Robot. Judging by the way the Neoshadows and Armored Knights were bucking the heads, Kim assumed they were laughing at how she was fighting them empty-handed and how she was greatly outnumbered. Kim smirked. She liked those odds. One Armored Knight leapt high and jabbed its blade at Kim, but she hopped backward, landing on her hands and flipping atop a Crimson Jazz. After punching it twice, Kim had aggravated the slow but powerful Heartless. Kim leaped away again, running as the Crimson Jazz chased after her. It unleashed a ring of Fire magic mines around Kim, about to send her flying sky high. Unfortunately for a group of Armored Knights, Kim had lead the mines right toward them, escaping just as the mine detonated and left them dissipating messes of darkness. One Neoshadow swung its fist for Kim, but its arm was caught by her. Completely caught off guard, the Neoshadow was then flung over Kim's shoulder and right into the Crimson Jazz's head, snapping it clean off and both destroyed.

Kim smirked to the lone, and trembling, Surveillance Robot. Kim held up her hand and made the "come on" gesture. The Heartless promptly flew away in terror. "Too easy," she said.

"What a flippin' Mary Sue," Manny commented, rolling his eyes, as he avoided getting crushed by a Large Body that hopped over him.

"Hey, that's my girlfriend you're talking about, there!" Ron Stoppable snapped, running away from a Morning Star Heartless spinning like a top after him. "Oh, by the way, HELP!" Tripping over his two left feet once again, Ron fell into a roll and crashed in a stack of paint cans. "Okay, who keeps stacking these paint cans everywhere?!" he complained as he lifted one from his face. Seeing the Morning Star coming toward him, Ron immediately pulled the can over his eyes again.

_Cling!_

Confused as to what the sound was, Ron raised the can again, and gaped. Standing between him and the Morning Star's fist was the man at the Kwik-E-Mart, holding up his sword underhand to block the attack. "Whoa," Ron whispered.

Jack pushed back the fist, knocking the Morning Star backward, flipped his sword upward and gripped it with both hands. The Morning Star, annoyed, threw its best punches at the warrior; however, Jack easily blocked each one and even managed to clip the Heartless after each consecutive parry. Finally losing its cool, the Heartless hopped high into the air. Jack narrowed his eyes as its massive body blocked out the sun's light above him, and came crashing down with incredible force – just what he needed. With a mighty cry, Jack thrust his sword up, piercing the Heartless powerful hide. Groaning on the weight, Jack struggled to hold up the Morning Star as it faded away into nothingness. Sighing in relief, Jack sheathed his amazing sword.

"Who ARE you?" Ron asked quietly.

Jack turned to Ron and answered simply, "Samurai Jack."

"Wow. That is so cool that a show about you would be canceled without a proper ending," Ron stated.

_**---**_

"How much farther away is the castle?" Rika asked, stuck in a rather uncomfortable position in the back of the Volkswagen bug.

"You ask that one more time and I swear I'll turn this car around!" Daffy snapped, turning his head, not noticing that he was then driving on the sidewalk.

"Sorry…" she muttered, but something caught her eye. Turning to the side window, Rika pointed. "What the heck is that?"

"Oh, t-t-that's just so-so-some guy ch-ch-changing in a phone booth into an S-S-Superman costume," Porky answered with a shrug.

"No, I mean THAT." Rika pointed at eight glowing lights that sent clouds parting from them as they descended from the sky.

"That? That's some weird stuff," Daffy said, eyes widening like a magnifying glass.

"I have a bad feeling about those," Rika whispered.

"Y-y-you feel ba-ba-bad feelings about e-e-everything," Porky argued.

"Way to kill the mood," Rika deadpanned. "Whatever. Daffy, head for those lights. I'm sure the others and Leon's all right."

"Ironic comment," Daffy muttered, turning the bug's steering wheel toward the lights.

_**---**_

The lovely and sweet Aerith Gainsborough dashed through the cathedral's mess hall, where a large fat man with, unusually enough, _yellow_ skin was munching on a platter of donuts. "Homer!" she shouted, slamming her palms on his table.

The man, Homer Simpson, promptly dropped his donut with pink frosting and sprinkles and stood up. "Oh, Ms. Aerith, how are you today? Anything I can do for you?"

"Have you seen Leon around anywhere?" she asked, looking a bit frantic.

Homer stared blankly. _Leon. Leon. Which one was he again, the one blonde emo one with a big sword obviously compensating for something? Whoa. I can't believe I actually knew that joke._ "Erm, no. I don't think I've seen Leon anywhere. He's the blonde in black, right?"

Being the kind person she was, Aerith disregarded his usual…well, disregard. "No, Homer. He's the one with brown hair, and the scar across his face?"

"Ooh. The _other_ emo guy with a big sword obviously compensating for something," Homer said, nodding.

Aerith tilted her head, slightly confused. "Cloud's compensating for something?"

"I saw him run toward the Loudspeaker System room."

"Thank you, Homer," Aerith said briskly, quickly running off again.

"Huh, I wonder what's got everyone running around," Homer said to himself.

"You've got to be the most moronic person here, aren't you?" an irate chef named Gordon Ramsay hissed, brushing back his blonde hair.

"Ooh, Ramsay! I'd like another plate of donuts, please," he responded, completely ignoring the question.

Ramsay groaned miserably as he pinched his nose. He really didn't need anymore wrinkle in his forehead from his anger. So, he had to calm down and – "KRONK! CHOWDER! SHNITZEL! HERE, NOW!" Ramsay roared. Never mind.

"Aw, Chef. You ruined my soufflé," a large, muscular man, Kronk, sniffed as he stepped out of the mess room's kitchen with the deflated baked good.

"Yeah, and your yelling is making the sing peas feel bad," a little cat…bear…rabbit…thing, Chowder, added, following Kronk.

"There are no such thing as sing peas, you little – thing," Ramsay said, attempting to keep his temper under control.

"Radda, radda," a tall man that seemed to be made completely out of rock, Shnitzel, said as he picked up Chowder, wagging a finger at him.

"Listen to the rock man, kid," Ramsay said.

"Um…can I have my donuts?" Homer mumbled, wondering why a group of oddballs was suddenly being called over in a strangely convenient way to be introduced.

_**---**_

Aerith ran through the maze-like corridors of Hollow Bastion, heading for the Loudspeaker System room. Without a second to spare, she threw the door open. "Leon!" she shouted, but quickly quieted. Inside, the very old – though very wise – Merlin was with two others. One was Barret Wallace, a tall and extremely tough-looking black man, with what was quite possibly the coolest thing one could to replace their arm: a gun. The other was the beautiful Quistis Trepe, a woman with long blonde hair and a pair of glasses; by her side was a whip, completely made of chains. And on the floor was something hidden under a white sheet, the three staring at it worriedly.

"What's going on?" Aerith finally asked.

"Aerith," Barret said, voice usually soft for him. "Something has happened to Leon."

"Quite serious, I'm afraid," Merlin said, awkwardly tugging on his long white beard.

Quistis remained quiet, sadly pondering. Aerith gulped, almost afraid to ask as she glanced at the thing hidden under the white sheet. "Can I…?"

"If you wish," Merlin nodded.

Aerith sat down on her knees, her hands trembling as she reached for one end of the sheet. Once she peeked underneath, Aerith promptly gasped and immediately regretted looking. "Is there anything we can do?" she asked, attempting to shake off her horror with resolve.

"Yes, we must find a way to reverse this," Merlin said solemnly. "Come, I will be needing assistance if I'm to discover a cure."

"Right." Barret nodded. "Come on," he said, gently easing the jaded Quistis out of the room with Merlin.

Aerith felt nothing but sympathy for her. She understood: Quistis once had Leon as her student. "I'll be right with you," she said. "Go on ahead." Merlin nodded understandingly, as he closed the door behind him.

Aerith sniffed as a few tears dripped from her eyes. Leon had always been there for them; it was always him that everyone looked to for support and leadership in difficult times like these. Now that he wasn't here, Aerith didn't know what will happen now. She angrily pounded the floor. Why did this have to happen? Aerith so deep in her grieving that she didn't notice a figure had casted a shadow over her from the window. Once she did, she glanced up and gasped.

A dark figure stood with her in the room, a long black cloak floated behind him. Aerith was speechless, she wasn't sure to be afraid or not. His face was hidden behind a mask that shot intimidation and fear into its foes but still retained a sort of look that gave those it thought friends courage. "I'm here to help," he assured her in a deep and commanding voice.

Aerith only nodded.

The figure kneeled over Leon's body, and lifted the white sheet to see his face. He narrowed his eyes, like he knew what had happened to him. Reaching into a pocket in a belt around his waist, the figure held out a syringe to Aerith, already with an injection inside. "That will cure him," he said, raising to his feet.

Aerith stared at the antidote in her hands. Could it really be that easy? Or was she being fooled?

"You can trust me," he said with a usual amount of tenderness coming from such an intimidating figure.

She didn't know why, but Aerith believed him. "Thank you."

The figure turned away and stepped up on the window still, reaching into his belt once again and pulling out a gadget this time. He turned his head back to her. "I know who did this. And I will stop him from doing any more harm."

"Who are you?" Aerith asked, breathlessly.

The figure looked away, almost wondering the same thing himself. He answered. "I'm Batman." The gadget fired a grappling hook; the Dark Knight readied himself and disappeared out the window.

Aerith was so shocked by the encounter that she almost forgot about Leon. She gulped again. Seeing Leon like this wasn't going to be any easier. She lifted the sheet and grimaced. Definitely wasn't any easier. Leon's face was white as the sheet covering him, his throat strained and veins showing, his eyes wide like saucers and a sickening yellow, but the worst was his expression: His mouth contorted into a terribly haunting _smile_, baring his teeth in a wide grin that stretched from ear to ear. It would be laughable if it wasn't so horrifying.

Taking several deep breaths, Aerith closed her eyes and injected the antidote into Leon's neck. Opening her eyes again, she saw Leon looking just as he was. Aerith felt like crying again. It didn't work. Suddenly, Leon took an intake of air. Aerith watched as he kept breathing deeply, his smile dropping and eyes closing. Color returned to his face as sweat dripped from his forehead.

Aerith smiled. He was going to be all right. Her thoughts drifted back to her pervious thoughts before the Batman arrived. She frowned. That wasn't right. They didn't solely rely only on Leon. Cid, Yuffie, Merlin, Barret, Quistis and even herself were looked up to and were needed to help guide the younger SeeD members. She couldn't break down like that even if her friend and commander went missing in action.

She wiped away any leftover tears and strengthened her resolve. They still had a long battle ahead of them.

_**End of Chapter 10**_

_Is it just me, or am I giving drama to the supporting characters instead of the main character?_


	12. Monkeying Around

_**Chapter 11 – Monkeying Around**_

Out in the deepest reaches of outer space where not a soul stirred, a lone starship was lazing where nothing could ever find it. The ship was tiny, smaller than even car, and it was shaped like a yellow star with a little glass orb as a windshield. Inside, its occupant was adorably cute and pink. He was small, pink and spherical with red feet and stubby arms. The space traveler was fast sleep, snoring peacefully, almost like it was this for decades and seemed it would stay like that for years to come – at least until a loud alarm went off in its ship. He woke up with a start, looking dazed with his large eye as red lights flashed in his face. A screen flicked on with a picture of a world. The traveler stared at it confusedly when a computerized voice announced, "_Hyperspace travel permitted. Activation in 3…2…._"

The traveler barely had enough time to scratch his head before being flattened onto the back of his spaceship as it entered hyperspace.

_**---**_

"I spy with my little eye…" Rika said slowly, eyes lolling around, "something…black."

"I-i-is it da-da-da-the Heartless splatter on the w-w-windshield?" Porky asked as Daffy swerved the steering wheel and ran over dozens of Shadows.

"Yep." She nodded nonchalantly.

Daffy stuck his head out his window and shouted, "Out of the way, you road hogs!"

"B-b-but you're on da-da-da-the sidewalk," Porky deadpanned. A woman with a tall beehive of blue hair, carrying two brown bags full of groceries, screamed and jumped to the side as the white Volkswagen zoomed on by. Porky also stuck his head out his window. "Ex-ex-excuse us!" he apologized.

Rika groaned, slapping his forehead. "I think we're _causing_ more damage than stopping it." Suddenly, her eyes widened and looked around. "Hey. Where are the Warners?"

Daffy and Porky's eyes shot open, as well. "I-I-I haven't se-se-seen them since th-th-they sucked us up in their va-vacuum."

"Which I'm still bitter about," Daffy muttered. "Did something happen to them?"

"I hope they're okay," Rika added. A cold silence fell among the three…

…and they burst out laughing.

"We're free of those annoying brats!" Daffy cackled, pounding a fist on the steering wheel.

"N-n-n-n-no mo-mo-more 'special f-f-friend' treat-treat-treat, behavior," Porky exclaimed.

"I think I'm going to cry tears of joy," Rika said as she pumped her fists.

However, a dark swirling vortex materialized out from the top of the car. Rika, Daffy and Porky stared in bewilderment as three objects dropped out of it, and then the vortex vanished just as easily as it appeared. Eyes blinking confusedly, Yakko, Wakko and Dot Warner stared back at the three. "Where…the hell did you guys come from?" Rika finally asked slowly, as if trying to realize what occurred actually happened.

"We're – not entirely sure," Dot said as her green-faced brother Wakko pulled out a brown paper bag and vomited into it loudly.

"My friends," Yakko said, holding his hands up almost reverently, "I believe my siblings and I had entered and escaped from what is known as – a plot hole."

"Oooh," Rika, Porky and Daffy intoned.

_**---**_

Inside the cathedral, Pinky was pacing through the empty corridors. The Brain placed him on patrol outside Ansem's study to keep watch. However, in reality, he wished for Pinky to stay out of his way. Pinky was blissfully unaware. "Golly, it sure does seem like Brain is going to finally do it this time!" he said cheerfully. "Ooh, he'll be so happy. Narf!" Not paying attention to where he was heading, Pinky accidentally crashed into another rat. "Oomph! Whoops. Pardon me, stranger. Poit!"

Unlike Pinky, the other rat was gray and resembled more like an ordinary rat compared to Pinky's anthropomorphic status as one. "Um, yeah. Sorry about that," the rodent apologized. "The name's Remy. Sorry, but I'm a bit in a hurry."

"And I'm Pinky, pleased to meet you, Remy!" Pinky then noticed that Remy was carrying a large ham, cheese and lettuce sandwich over his head. "Wowie! That sure does look pretty appetizing. Where'd you find it?"

"I, uh, sort of…took it," Remy explained, his foot tapping as he looked anxiously over his shoulder.

Pinky gasped. "Isn't that – _stealing_?" he whispered harshly. Suddenly, a puzzled look dawned on his face. "Why do I have a sudden sense of irony right about now? Oh, well. Troz!"

"Okay, yes! It's stealing. And I'm not proud of it!" Remy snapped, looking distraught. "As if I didn't get this _enough_ from Gusteau…."

"Who's Gusteau?"

"Oh, just the figment of my imagination that took the form of my late hero, Chef Auguste Gusteau," he answered indifferently with a shrug.

"I see," Pinky said slowly, and muttered to himself, "What a weirdo…. Oh, there's that irony again!"

Suddenly, the broken column next to them exploded in pieces. One small piece of debris smacked itself on Pinky's head, creating little stars to spin around his head. "Of course I'd love a dance, Miss Jolie!" He promptly passed out.

"Oi, Soldier! I found the rodent," an obnoxious, Bronx accent shouted. Running with incredible speed was a stringy man in a red t-shirt and a baseball cap, in his hands was a saw-off shotgun.

"Good work, lad! You've found the rodent!" another man ran behind the Scout, also carrying a shotgun. He shouted like a drill sergeant, and was dressed in a red heavy jacket and a war helmet that constantly was covering his eyes.

"WA-HA-HA-HA!" a boisterous voice cried. A large, bald Slavic man charged ahead of the Soldier. He wore a red shirt, a Kevlar vest, and an ammo belt across his chest. He laughed uproariously as he totted his massive minigun, firing rapidly in Remy and Pinky's general direction. "GIVE BACK THE SANDVICH!"

"Oh, snap," Remy yelped. He grabbed Pinky's limp hand and ran as fast as he could, bullets raining all around them.

"WA-HA-HA-HA-HA!" the Heavy's infectious laugh sounded. "CRY SOME MORE!"

_**---**_

The battle between Heartless and SeeD soldiers raged on throughout the marketplace. Yuffie hopped on top of a shop. She wiped sweat from her brow, her breath labored. Although SeeD was giving their all, they were in a disadvantage. They were greatly outnumbered and they also had to keep all the Radiant Garden citizens safe from harm. "This is looking pretty bad…" she whispered. Yuffie looked around the battlefield.

Ben Tennyson had transformed once again. This time into a gigantic dinosaur-like alien appropriately named Humongousaur that smashed through the Large Body Heartless with relative ease. "This is too easy," he declared, but then a terrifying roar exploded from the sky made even Humongousaur's spine tingle. "I _may_ have spoken too soon." A beam of dark energy blasted down from the sky in front of Ben; he shielded himself from the overwhelming power of darkness. Finally, the energy died down and standing before Ben was a large gorilla-like Heartless. It was blue-furred, like a Power Wild Heartless, but was far more stronger-looking with powerful muscles in its arms and body. However, it had very little legs and had to rest on its fists. And, of course, the Heartless emblem was on its back and its eyes were a nasty, glowing yellow. It was a Power Arm Heartless. "Heh, I'm guessing you're going to be the boss of this fight, right?" Ben/Humongousaur asked with a smirk. "Well, bring it out!"

Humongousaur charged for the Power Arm, swinging his right arm for a hook. The Power Arm, however, easily avoided the punch by spinning to its left onto its hand. With a fluid motion, the Power Arm spun using its arm as a pivot and delivered a kick so strong to Humongousaur's face that it knocked Humongousaur right off his feet and onto his back. Ben reverted back to his ordinary human, groaning, "Ugh…that was stupid." The Power Arm stomped (rather, slammed its fists) toward Ben. It raised its fist, prepared to finish Ben off.

"You guys really are heartless!" The little guy that was Manny River/El Tigre slashed with his steel-hard claws across the Power Arm's torso, making it roar in pain as it back away. El Tigre landed next to Ben, in a suit styled after a tiger thanks to his mystical belt buckle that was embedded with the letter T. "Wow. That pun was terrible. What was I thinking?"

"Why didn't you turn into El Tigre earlier?" Ben asked weakly as El Tigre helped him up.

"Would you believe that my belt buckle disappeared into a vortex and only now just reappeared?" he said, looking rather confused himself.

"Sounds like someone screwed up," Ben muttered. "Watch out. That Heartless isn't out yet."

The Power Arm snorted, angry steam blasted out of its nose. It lowered its body closer to the ground, raised both of its fists, and quickly brought both down to the ground. The entire marketplace began quaking violently, knocking down all in the area to the ground. Ben and El Tigre both grabbed onto anything stable they could find. A crack began splitting the ground from where the Power Arm struck, growing longer and larger. The crack reached Ben and El Tigre, knocking them to dangling from the crack's edge. "We could use some help here!" El Tigre screamed.

"Don't worry!" Kim flipped through the air and grabbed the boy's arms, pulling them out of the crack. "I'm always…. Hmm. No, that's no good. Kim's here to save – no. That's no good, too. Ugh! I've got no good quips today!"

"Save it." Yuffie suddenly landed next to her, nearly scaring her out of her skin. "We've still got to take care of ugly over here." She jabbed a thumb at the Power Arm.

"Ooh, why didn't I think of that?" Kim pouted.

She and Yuffie leaped high into the air. Yuffie twirled her trusty shuriken while Kim delivered multiple kicks and punches. Ben activated his watch and transformed into a plant-like alien with petals that resembled a flame. Creating a ball of fire in each hand, Ben bellowed, "Swampfire!" and unleashed twin streams of fire at the Power Arm. El Tigre roared mightily, like a real tiger, and charged on all-fours. Yin, with her magic, and Yang, with his bamboo sword, rushed in. Samurai Jack ran into the fray as well, his sword over his head and giving his bellowing battle cry. Ron, meanwhile, was cowering under a fruit stand with his hands over his eyes.

Crawling out of Ron's pocket and onto his shoulder, a completely hairless rodent known as a naked mole rat made a few urging gestures. "Oh, what, Rufus? You want me to go out there and fight a _monkey?_ No thank you, my good mole rat!" Ron snapped. Rufus slapped his forehead.

The screams of the girls, however, made Ron open his eyes. "Kim!" Ron sprung from under the fruit stand to his feet. Kim and Yuffie were caught in the Power Arm's massive hands, having the breath squeezed out of them. "Don't worry; I'll…do something helpful." Ron dug around his pockets for any sort of gadget he may have been given. Then he remembered that he wasn't given gadgets for that exact reason. "What do I do, Rufus?!"

Rufus poked his head out Ron's pocket. "I dunno," Rufus said in his own closest thing to speech.

Ron narrowed his eyes as a light bulb went lit up over his head – literally. A street lamp suddenly flipped on. "Rufus!" Snatching the naked mole rat from his pocket, Ron began aiming carefully at the Power Arm. "Ready, little buddy?"

"No," Rufus squeaked.

"Fast ball special!" Ron shouted, spinning his arm and finally launching his pet with all his strength. Rufus shrieked in terror as he flew through the air, the wind inertia blasting past his face, and right into the Power Arm's right nostril. If you knew what it was like to have a live fly go into your nose, then you probably would know how the Power Arm was feeling right then. The Heartless clawed at its nose, dropping Kim and Yuffie while trying to pick out the little rodent.

"That is both disgusting and oddly useful," Swampfire muttered, while El Tigre nodded sheepishly.

Ron took Kim's hand and helped her to her feet. "You okay?"

Kim smiled back. "Yeah."

Yuffie groaned as she stood up, rolling her eyes. "Break it up, you lovebirds."

Ron and Kim blushed when Rufus came flying into Ron's face, knocking him spinning backwards into the fruit stand he was hiding under. "Ron!" Kim gasped.

The Power Arm looked furious; its eyes turned into a dark red. Baring its fangs, it rushed for the SeeD soldiers. However, Jack intercepted with his blade from the air. He swiped his supernatural blade across the Power Arm's face. It cried out in pain as purplish blood was splattered. "Nice going, samurai!" Yang cheered, pumping his fists.

"Isn't he dreamy?" Yang sighed lovingly.

Yang stopped cheering and made an aside glance to you, the reader(s). "Damn fan girls."

The Power Arm, however, recovered quickly, snatched the midair Jack, and smashed him against a wall. Before the others could react, the Heartless band handed them all, sending them crashing all around. The Power Arm was growing tired of all of this nonsense and was ready to end it. It held up the near unconscious Jack to its face, preparing to take the samurai's heart.

"Oy! How's about you pick a fight with me, ya great big ugly monkey?!"

The Power Arm turned its head and a massive claymore completely sliced off its arm holding Jack. It screeched in surprise and agonizing pain, as it clenched at its stump of a right arm. Jack, regaining his senses, landing on his feet and turned to his savior. His eyes shot wide open. "You!"

"Jack!" a large and boisterous Scotsman pulled Jack into a powerful bear hug, not much different from being crushed by the Power Arm, really. "It's been too long, lad!"

The SeeD group collected themselves and gathered around the two men. "Who the hell this guy?" Yang demanded rather obnoxiously – until he noticed that the Scotsman had a large claymore in his hand and a machine gun for one of his legs. "Holy crap, this guy is flippin' awesome!"

"This man is a friend," Jack explained. "We have fought together many times before and he has proven himself to be a mighty warrior." He turned to his old friend. "Tell me, Scotsman, how was it that you arrived on this world?"

"Ooh, ya won't believe it, Jackie!" the Scotsman thundered. "I was just mindin' my own business, playing a little limerick on me bagpipes, when suddenly this horned woman appeared out of great, green flames! Judging from them stories you told me about your journeys, me first assumption it was Aku in drag. However, she possessed a power not even Aku had. It freaked me out! Point is she asked me to join this little club of hers where it involved takin' over the universe and all that bullocks. I turned it down. It was the simple life for me! She didn't take it too well, and the she-devil sent me spiraling into this swirling dark pool of darkness! Yeah, I know I'm being redundant. No need to correct me, lads and lassies. Next thing I knew, I was here and I found my old pal, Jack!"

Yuffie's team blinked, completely baffled.

El Tigre twirled a finger around the side of his head. "Cuckoo-cuckoo."

"Right…" Kim intoned slowly. "But we still have to finish off that Heartless."

Yuffie held up her shuriken again and pointed it at the Power Arm. "Let's finish this!"

"Just like old times, aye?" the Scotsman said to Jack and he gripped his claymore. Jack nodded back, smirking. The Power Arm's eyes looked on pathetically as the group rushed in to finish their job.

_**---**_

Maleficent stepped lightly to the edge of the cliff of the Dark Depths, gazing in to the distant sight of the city of Radiant Garden; the site where she attempted to overthrow many years ago. Luckily for her, she was immortal and didn't have to worry about such a superfluous concept as death. Somewhere out there, a grim reaper just sneezed. "Radiant Garden certainly has grown," Maleficent said, a grin growing on her face. "It'll make the perfect military base."

"That's what you said last time," her henchman, Pete, reminded, stepping up next to her. "And we all know how that turned out!" Seeing the livid look on his boss's face, he flinched out of fear of her.

"You should've seen that coming," a colossal whale-like alien whispered into Pete's ear.

"Things will be different this time," Maleficent replied.

"Indeed, things shall be different," a man dressed rather sophistically agreed. He removed the cigar from his mouth and smirked. "With those two lab rats able to penetrate SeeD's security system unnoticed, they have created our army of Heartless. We'll be able destroy themselves from the inside out."

"But we must be wary of the Keyblade girl," another man that seemed otherworldly, almost ghostly, said. "I had my fair share of dealings with teenaged heroes, and they tend to be rather troublesome."

"Oh, get a cat, would ya, Plasmius?!" a shadowy figure snapped. His entire body was cover into some sort of synthetic cloth that was completely black, making him resemble a full-body silhouette. All that was distinguishable was a pipe in his mouth.

"Spare me your blather, Father!" the ghostly Plasmius sneered.

"You keep complaining about that Danny Phantom kid!" the silhouette man named Father mocked, waving his hands. "It's always 'Danny Phantom' this! Or 'Danny Phantom' that! And 'I shall have my revenge on that blasted Danny Phantom'! Geez, it's pathetic! At least he's a teenager who respects his adult figures. I have to deal with these little brats who fight our 'tyranny'."

"And you call me pathetic," Plasmius muttered, rolling his eyes.

"What'd you say?!"

"Silence!" Maleficent thundered, hushing to two bickering men. "The Heartless army should be completed soon. Then, we shall finish what I started a long time ago…."

_**---**_

Chase Young peered through a strange-looking device that looked like an eagle-shaped binocular, spying on Maleficent from over the distance as he stood atop of the castle, Hollow Bastion. "Maleficent, so predictable."

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you two dated once and she broke up with ya!" NegaDuck cackled.

"Knock it off, NegaDuck," Syndrome said. "You don't want to piss off _this_ guy."

"Whatever." NegaDuck rolled his eyes.

Another member of Chase's group stepped over to the edge to observe the city. He wore fairly ordinary Japanese white robe with large, and carried a short katana with an 'S' shaped guard in a sheath. He was unusually thin, with just as unusually silver hair. But the most distinguishing feature about his is his facial expression: his eyes narrowed to slit and an ever-present grin that stretched widely. "Ah, this place reminds me so much of Soul Society…." He took a deep breath. "Can't wait 'til we burn it all down."

"This guy's creepy…" Jack Spicer whispered to Zim.

"Ooooh, I think I like him," Zim grinned deviously. "For a filthy human-pig, that is…. We shall bring this world to its utter doom!"

"I'm gonna sing the 'Doom Song' now!" GIR said happily, standing beside Zim. "Doom, doom, doom! Doom-ie, doom, doom!"

"Can you _possibly_ focus this once, GIR?" Zim moaned miserably at his misfortune of a sidekick

"Quiet," Chase said in a tone that didn't require him to raise his voice to be obeyed. "I think I have spotted something potentially dangerous to our goal."

"What is it, Chase?" Jack asked, trying to swipe the Eagle Scope from his boss and spot it as well. "Is it that cute Keyblade chick?"

"No," he answered, easily keeping the binocular device out of his minion's reach and glowering at him. "Something a little more…prehistoric."

_**---**_

Rika shuddered.

"W-w-w-what's wrong, R-Rika?" Porky asked as he attempted to wrestle the accordion Wakko was playing out of his hands.

"I just feel like this really creepy guy called me 'cute,'" Rika said. "Bur! Gives me the chills."

"Why, cause you aren't?" Daffy smirked. She slammed the handle end of her Keyblade at the back of his head.

_Ooh, I like him. He's funny._

"I don't need your commentary, you oversized paperweight," Rika hissed quietly to herself. Dot and Yakko exchanged looked. Both twirled their fingers around the side of their heads, the cuckoo sounds were made themselves.

_I just thought I'd give up an update, and tell you I'm feeling a disturbance._

"What, in the Force?" Rika asked grumpily. "If you hadn't noticed, an army of Heartless has been invading!"

_Not that._

Rika perked up her ears. Stardom Key was starting to sound concerned. It was never concerned.

_It was like back at Traverse Town…._

Rika realized what Stardom was talking about. "Keep an eye out, guys," she said, summoning Stardom Key to her hand. "This battle's just about to get worse."

_**End of Chapter 11**_

_I'm sorry for the lack of updates everyone. I've been extremely busy with college and life hasn't been exactly been treating me the best. But thank you for your patience with me. I hope this chapter makes up for it._

_By the way, please check out the TV Tropes page I have created for this story! There's a link to my Contributor's page in my profile that'll take you to it._


	13. LAST AUTHOR'S NOTE!

I am sorry to say that this story has been rebooted again. Yes, I know. I am the worst possible human being possible. But, if you liked what you read so far in the story, then please check out the new reboot! It has already been posted and two chapters have been finished. I am sorry for my desperate need to write a decent story that I keep rebooting, but I really hope you all can check out the new reboot. Just head for my profile and it should be there.


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